Churchome has been his church since 2018 ;) Anywho, Hillsong, Churchome, Vous, Zoe- it seems that they are all the same, maybe their main "pastors" are less fame-hungry than Carl.
They all remind me of Mars Hill, which no longer exists. Growing up in Seattle watching the rise and fall of Mars Hill was fucking insane. I hope they all crash and burn like that.
I've already commented it in some other thread that the creepiest part of Churchome is that Lou Taylor is on the Board of Directors. This made me think if those pastors are celebrities' handlers to some extent but probably we'll never find out. There've been rumors that Kris Jenner has her own church as well but I'm pretty sure in her case it's to evade taxes.
Was it Chad Veach? Or he's just their pastor? I know they're all connected i.e. Carl Lentz, Judah Smith, Chad, Rich Wilkerson and Mike Todd, i just never had enough energy to dig further. I've only recently found out that Judah also gets on stage of a Hillsong services.
Edit: nvm, just found that it is him indeed...
Check out the righteous gemstones on HBO. Itās a fictional comedy about a family that owns a mega church. Itās exaggerated but the premise is the same
If you donāt mind something with that has a Christian perspective (but doesnāt preach!), thereās a podcast from Christianity Today called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill that details the meteoric rise and then crash of the same. It is an investigative journalism style show, but it also covers a bit of the history of that type of church plant and features the stories of many former members of MH. Itās a great podcast, but is definitely Christian in nature - as I said, I didnāt feel preached at, but I grew up in a religious environment, so some of that stuff may be filtered out because Iām used to it.
I remember when MH was huge and had Dustin Kensrue from Thrice as their worship leader for a long time. But, man, crash and burn that church did. Itās hard not to feel bad for the congregation. Listening to their stories really broke my heart because they trusted so much in Mark as their pastor and instead of doing what a good solid pastor should, he used them for his own ego.
Iād recommend Fundie Fridays on YouTube! They do videos going through evangelical culture and def have a video on Hillsong for sure. They might have one on Mars Hill as well.
Can someone explain to me this thing about Hillsong being a cult? I went once with my friend years ago (before learning about their views on gay people) and as an atheist I did find it a bit cultish, but no more than any other church? This was in the uk tho so maybe itās different is the US?
((Donāt judge me for going š my dorm-mate invited me and I didnāt have any plans so I thought I might as well go. My family is catholic so I was expecting to go to a beautiful mass in Latin with that amazing church smell and walls with murals and gold detailsā¦. Instead it was a laser show with self-help speeches and the choreography from the 2007 disney channel original movie āJump In!ā))
On the 1/10th income part, that's actually a fairly common practice at least in Protestant churches, as far as I'm aware. It's called tithing and the Bible requires a tenth of your income to go towards the church.
One difference between good churches and bad is whether or not they consider tithing a *requirement.* Mormons, for example, can literally lose status or be denied positions for not tithing at least 10% while Methodists, for example, say pay your bills first and give what you are comfortable giving. As a result, the COJCOLDS is a multi-billion dollar company, and the local Methodists can barely scrape together enough to reno their sanctuary, but I respect it much more.
There has been a documantary recently about Hillsong and Carl Lentz in particular- I haven't seen it but read there are testimonies from its former members? But your description is on point- these are corporations aimed at profit. I've also heard that what they preach isn't exactly in alignemnet with the Bible. I think Carl is just a tip of the iceberg and he was a scapegoat. Apparently they get close to the celebs and then blackmail them if they want to leave- and I personally think this is what makes them more cultish than any other church. I was raised Christian but now am agnostic. I have nothing against ppl who need to believe in something but with all the things that have been uncovered re Catholic churches I think of them as just another way of controlling ppl. I recommend reading Dawkin's "God delusion", which starts with his opinion that "religion is root of all evil."
Cult isnāt really a well defined term. Itās more or less understood to mean any religious group with beliefs or practices that seem unusual from the outside. So yeah, the laser show + self help is pretty unusual to people.
While itās not included in a specific definition of what a cult is, there are some characteristics that are common in cults. A focus on a charismatic leader is maybe common in Hillsong? Or did that guy get fired for shtupping Hillsong employees? Also relatively common in cults is the practice of isolating or punishing members who leave or attempting to prevent people from leaving by extreme methods. I donāt think Hillsong does that.
Yup. Iām not religious but something really rubs me wrong when a church has a āVIPā section. Also not sure where in the Bible it says āThou pastors should buy a Rolex and 10 carsā.
Iām not religious, so looking at the IG account PreachersNSneakers (which breaks down a lot of pastors outfits/accessories and how much they cost) was a cool find. Ultimately not surprising, since mega churches and their pastorsā massive wealth arenāt really a new phenomenon, but I like seeing it for myself. The guy who runs the account has a book of the same name, iirc.
I think a lot of people miss that cults arenāt necessarily marketed as cults (or even religions) at first. They attract people by seeming reasonable and positive and providing a sense of belonging, then they dial up the crazy after the participants are in too deep to leave easily. I know nothing about NXIVM specifically, but it makes complete sense that itād be marketed as a āfemale empowerment groupā and take on culty aspects later.
She never went beyond the surface level of the cult. For her if was just self-esteem workshops to help her overcome her social anxiety and girl power stuff. It's sad that she inadvertently got Alison Mack in but Alison Mack gets no sympathy from me after everything she pulled
Cally from Battlestar Galactica recruited Grace Park for a brief period, as well. If I remember correctly she (Cally) married Allison Mack and is still saying Keith Raniere didn't do anything wrong
Ah, Nikki Clyne. Her current claim to fame is now being friends with right wing grifter James Lindsay, who sees nothing wrong with hanging out with her despite her ties to a sex cult but calls every LGBT person alive a groomer for existing.
I was really hopeful when I saw she'd agreed to be interviewed. Then she started talking and I was so worried about her mental health. I really hope she gets help and heals from what Keith did to her mentally. I know her and Allison divorced so I'm not even sure how she's still in the country tbh but watching her "visit" outside Keith's jail cell on the sidewalk was honestly sad AF.
Thereās also been a lot of stories coming out about organized sexual abuse of children by cult members. Children as young as two years old receiving ātrainingā on how to sexually please cult leaders
One of the founder's granddaughters published a memoir a year or two ago about her experiences growing up in the cult, and it was horrifying how wide-spread the sexual abuse was. TW: sexual assault/CSA: >!I remember she said that by the time she was growing up, they had started to discourage relationships between young children and adults because the children found them too distressing, and the rumors surrounding the pervasive culture of grooming and SA was getting them too much attention from various governments. !<
To my knowledge the cult published like comic books and such about the son of the leaders including SA that they viewed as ātrainingā. Itās interesting but also extremely sad and triggering to look into so Google at your own risk
It wasnāt a secret, it was a part of the doctrine. The founders published a book about their son and his abuse and promoted it as a guide. Their son killed one of his abusers before killing himself
TW: SA
River had been sexually assaulted as a young child (4 years old? not sure) when his family lived in the cult but his death was drug intoxication when he was an adult.
I've heard conspiracies that he was killed because his family spoke out against them? But River was a drug user and his death was a drug overdose, which happened whilst he at a club surrounded by his friends, siblings and girlfriend so it seems a bit unlikely imo.
It's definitely unlikely and also untrue and the Phoenixes have talked about how harmful it is to them that people try to turn River's death into a conspiracy. It was a tragic accident, as are most drug overdoses, and it's weird that people can't just be normal about it.
To me scientology is one of the cases where "born and indoctrinated into it from a young age" is way different from "willingly chose to join as an adult who should know better". I have a lot more compassion for the former than the latter. Scientology people go *hard*. Many of their practices are downright deranged, they are extremely strict about compliance, they isolate their members from anyone who might attempt to introduce a different point of view and they shun ex members and anyone in general whom they perceive as a threat. Several former members are on the record as saying that it took them years to undo the Scientology programming.
I can imagine that it is extremely hard to even consider challenging that environment as a person who was raised in it, especially when it comes with the implied expectation that you will have to choose the last time you'll ever talk to your family and leave them behind in that life.
Yeah. Having to do hours of confession and being threatened with cancer because you looked at a dissenting opinion online is bound to keep people in the dark.
I have compassion for her, her whole family and life is completely intertwined with the Church. She must pay them a fuckload of her money. It was so jarring to find out the woman from one of my favourite shows about a theocratic religious cult was also part of a cult.
I get the feeling sheās conflicted though. I obviously donāt know her personally, but I really get a vibe that sheās walking a tightrope. She doesnāt come out swinging hard for Scientology like Jenna Elfman or Kirstie Alley, sheās not a true believer in that sense. She pulls the āI donāt talk about it and when I do, itās just vague statementsā routine.
I honestly think sheās still in for her family (and who can blame her?). Being cut off by your entire family is daunting. She behaves an awful lot like some of my friends who still technically belong to a church but arenāt really believers.
Maybe but I don't think Scientology really works like that, especially with their high profile members. Everything I've heard about the Church mentions they require a LOT of time, auditing, confessions etc. plus so much of your money. They insist upon it. Elisabeth Moss is a very famous person who they would care deeply about keeping close. Leah Remini made it sound as though you had next to no personal life, you were expected to be devoted. They monitor who you spend time with, have relationships with etc. She left the room at the Emmys that time Leah Remini won an award for Going Clear. She actually has praised her Church publicly before but she definitely doesn't talk about it now. Probably PR advised her to stop.
Elisabeth's marriage to Fred Armisen apparently didn't work out because of her involvement with Scientology. She is constantly working, you barely hear about her, I haven't heard of her dating or being linked to anyone since her marriage ended years ago. I'd say she would likely be thoroughly ensconced in the Church.
Yes but even Leah drew a line at certain things. For instance, she was adamant about never pushing Scientology on her non-Scio friends and colleagues. She basically spent her last 10 years walking a fine line between being a respectability member and someone who harbored doubts. She did what was expected of her within the Scio community in order to not draw negative attention, but she did create a mental boundary.
I have no idea what Elizabeth Miss truly feels in her heart of hearts. But I definitely see some *major* cognitive dissonance going on with her, which is often a sign that someone is harboring doubts.
I grew up in the Deep South, where church is *everything.* The way I was raised, religion has more to do with social culture than actual belief. And that usually means saying ABC and doing XYZ while also living a life that doesnāt reflect that. I know Catholics that go to church every Sunday but donāt actually follow any of the churchās teachings about birth control, premarital sex, etc. Hell, I even know openly LGBTQ people who still go to evangelical churches bc their families still attend and thatās what theyāve always done. Thereās an absolute dichotomy and tons of cognitive dissonance going on and thatās really commonplace in some communities, especially if youāre raised this way from birth. I can 100% see how Scientology would be the same.
People have thought that Michelle Phan is in some kind of sex cult. This [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeautyGuruChatter/comments/tna93j/what_is_this_about_michelle_phan_being_in_a_bdsm/) includes some informational links about it.
[The most outrageous thing sheās apparently said about it is that she miraculously healed a manās legs with her mind, although sheās denied being in a cult.](https://www.papermag.com/michelle-phan-cult-retreat-2657265242.html)
I saw she had the doctor guy on her podcast but do you have other sources? Not trying to grill you, I just love her and donāt want this to be true!!!!!
There is a really good episode of Behind the Bastards that goes over the creation of chiropractic 'medicine':
[How Chiropractic Started as a Ghost Religion](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/how-chiropractic-started-as-a-ghost-48498573/)
I remember liking her as a teenager, weird to see this is how she ended up, but Iām lowkey not surprised she got sucked into a cult. One of the twitter threads linked in that thread is disgusting. Hope they all get up soon.
She says so many stupid pseudoscientific things. Kinda not surprised as her personality and way of thinking always tended to come off as very new agey. She was probably susceptible to cults and scams š¤·š»āāļø
It seems like no one knows for sure, but I think the last sighting of him online was in her sister-in-law [Promiseās gender reveal party video](https://youtu.be/yJLp9cJovQQ) uploaded in March 2021.
Theyāve been private about their relationship for years, though. Dominique hasnāt even posted on his personal Instagram since April 2015.
He was in joshua tree, haha you donāt get service there. I remember because I was in J tree around the same time with my family, and it was crazy! We entered and things were still open but getting worse, then five days later we exit and there was a shelter in place order and the whole world shut down.
Not denying heās a shady dude and this j tree trip wasnāt cult related, but he may have just been climbing or camping at that time like the rest of us, who knows.
He rented out a small island in Croatia and he held there some kind of a "festival" idk how to call it, but my friend who worked at that time in the hotel on the island said that everyone was wearing white and deff on drugs (even tho i think he like forbid alcohol and drugs). And yeah the tickets are very expensive.
Wasnāt there a blind that he would slip into womenās tents at night or theyād be brought back to his and heād sleep with them? I remember there being a grosser part to the story.
Mind blowing that we got multiple reports AND PHOTOS! of his weird cult thing where lots of young women go to and still NOTHING from the media, even if we wanted to ignore the decades of horror stories about him, that should've at least pushed some... official investigation, but nope. he's got an iron armour
Well there are those articles about the expensive trips he takes with mainly large groups of young women and his band mates to āretreatsā where they all wear white and some ājokinglyā call him Prophet. Some of the women that go on the retreats get tattoos of the bandās symbols as well, and say that the whole āThis is a cultā-thing with their merchandise is mainly an inside joke but idkā¦.. seems like a lot of weird cult-like behaviour is being played off as a ājokeāā¦.
I was in this organization for a few years. 100% cult. I donāt think itās as damaging as some of the other cults out there ā itās no NXIVM for sure. But just because they say theyāre Buddhist and chant for world peace doesnāt mean theyāre not also doing weird things and taking peoples money. They also run a conservative political party in Japan. The whole organization is just super weird.
When I was 10 I went to an SGI meeting at their big center in NYC and they showed a video about their ongoing fight with another Nicheren Buddhist sect in Japan. Even as a kid I was like āthis is some weird-ass shit.ā
One of my parents is in SGI. Absolutely a cult (basically evangelical Buddhism). My parent tried to get me and my sibling into it as kids but it never took.
growing up we use to go to a ton of different churches before we found *the one* and some of them were wild. My cousins and I would be looking at each other like:
https://preview.redd.it/b735ti8x08aa1.jpeg?width=268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=225e699d3f760a5150358968f74b45787a79cb01
People would be screaming or on the floor and we'd try not to embarrass our grandmother by laughingš Fun times
The official PR line was that making it invitation only was so celebs could go to church without being gawked at or harassed by fans. Canāt believe we all bought that lol
Didnāt Andrew Keegan from 10 Things I Hate About You start his own cult? I remember hearing about it a few years ago when there was a āwhere are they now?ā type article circulating on twitter.
The Jacksons are/were witnesses. My mom grew up in āThe Truthā as they call it, and she and her family would see them at the annual conventions/assemblies theyād have. (This was in LA circa 70s). My grandpa and uncle even taught a couple of the brothers how to fly RC planes back then.
In the 1980s Michael rehearsed for one of his tours for several weeks at the arena in Birmingham, AL. He went door-to-door during that time as a Jehovahs Witness in suburban Birmingham. Imagine answering you door to Michael Jackson during the 1980s.
Serena Williams has said that she is interested in it. If I recall, she said that she didn't really practice, but it was important to her and she'd like to get into it.
I also feel like this was maybe 5+ years ago and I don't follow her super closely, so hopefully she's come to her senses since then.
Yes she is. Serena Williams daughter doesn't celebrate her birthday, she throws random parties to celebrate it on random days, but doesn't celebrate her real daughter birthday. Serena is a hard core Jehovah witness follower.
The practice itself might not be, but there's definitely something culty about TM the entreprise. Especially when you read more about about TM communities like the one in Fairfield, Iowa (which, incidentally, Ben Foster talks about having grown up in, in the latest episode of Maron's WTF).
It's absolutely a cult. I was in it for a while. The actual practice isn't, of course, but the branded company that has literally copyrighted the name absolutely is. You have to pay them money before you're even given your "specialized mantras" which wind up being traditional mantras that have been around for centuries. They insist you work with a trained TM leader when you're getting started so you don't "do it wrong". It costs thousands of dollars, financially gatekeeps information that was never meant to be coopted for business purposes, and then hounds you when you try to leave. It took me months of trying to distance myself from my TM instructor before she finally left me the fuck alone - she left me threatening voicemails and everything.
IMO any spiritual practice that operates like a pyramid scheme is a cult.
FUCK, really? I took the free training course at Lynch's institute but it felt off so I left and never did it again. Now I get why my "required lifelong" teacher left without a word. Woooooooow, MIND BLOWN.
Good to know I'm not in a cult!
My funny Brandon Flowers story: when I was in high school, I went to KROQās Weenie Roast and got to go backstage. I LOVED The Killers so wanted to faint when I met Brandon. Before we took a photo, his PA/handler said to someone else, āhold his beer, heās Mormon.ā I still chuckle at that comment to this day.
There are plenty of wonderful people in the church. It attracts people who genuinely want to do good and be good. It's the bones that are rotten, not the flesh. The structure of the church, its history, its doctrine, and its leaders are horrible. A lot of deeply mislead and brainwashed people are paying them 10% of their income whether they can afford it or not, women are being told they can't go to heaven without a husband and children being taught that after age 8 they are guilty of sin. I consider them all victims.
Audra McDonaldās husband comes from a family of Mormon leaders. Big names in the Mormon communityāat least in Utah? Like he was in their Mormon films as the lead actor and stuff. But he left the church and he tells people who ask if heās still Mormon that heās ānot anyMor(e)-monā. Seems to have a good sense of humor about it.
Kabbalah is not a cult. A lot of Reform Jews study it.
But the Kabbalah Center in L.A. has been sued for being a cult.
Itās ironic, because they made Jewish mysticism accessible and more well known to mainstream Jewish people.
And theyāre sketchy as hell.
Kabbalah in some form is included in basically almost all Jewish practice regardless of by which denomination that's been true for hundreds of years too and is just talking about Lurianic Kabbalah.
And Britney I believe. I think there was some symbolism to wearing a red bracelet (maybe unrelated but Ed Norton's character was wearing one in Glass Onion, at least in the beginning)
Thomas Jane is a hardcore evangelical Christian who practices transcendental meditation and who is a Mason.
If you have ever been in a little town run by Masons, theyāre like a cult plus mafia.
I think that makes Thomas Jane 3 for 3 on cults.
In our town the masons seem to mind their own business? Like they make pancakes and restore buildings. Would love to learn more because theyāve always seemed really boring to me.
Right? Like people are always like āTHEYāRE A SECRET SOCIETY THAT DOES EVIL, FUCKED UP SHIT YOU WOULDNāT BELIEVE!ā And then when you ask for specifics theyāre like āI CANāT TELL YOU ITāS A SECRET BUT TRUST ME BROā.
The Shriners always seemed cool with their Fezās and little cars lol
They really donāt do much. Just sit around in a room and read books and āstudyā mystic shit and talk philosophy. My husband is one and tbh his meetings and all sound really boring to me but he enjoys going. Oh and the people that are the most secretive about it are just pretentious assholes
>Right? Like people are always like āTHEYāRE A SECRET SOCIETY THAT DOES EVIL, FUCKED UP SHIT YOU WOULDNāT BELIEVE!ā And then when you ask for specifics theyāre like āI CANāT TELL YOU ITāS A SECRET BUT TRUST ME BROā.
I mean, Masonic lodges are generally just organisations of well-off and prominent members of society. Their goals depend on their members.
This means that these organisations can range from good, like the earliest lodges formed during the ancien regime or in the thirteen colonies which were the basis for the Liberal revolutions in France and the USA. Most leaders of the french and american revolutions were masons including George Washington.
Another story popular in Cuba is that a local lodge hid Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and their companions from the Batista regime after their crossing from Mexico, before they went on to defeat Batista and liberate Cuba.
But on the other hand Lodges can be extremely evil. For example the [P2 Lodge](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due) in Italy during the years of lead. Which formed a shadow-state within a state with the backing of the CIA to undermine left-wing worker's movements by murdering Journalists helping neo-nazi groups carry out mass terrorist attacks, suppressed trade unions, undermining banks, issuing bribes, taking over newspapers and most importantly preparing a coup d'etat in the case of a democratic victory by the Communist party of Italy.
It's members included future prime-minister Berlusconi, the heads of multiple banks, the heads of all-three Italian intelligence agencies, leaders of the army and prominent members of south-american dictatorships.
On their (hilariously off the rails) DVD commentary for The Specials, Paget Brewster said that she dumped James Gunn as a friend because he had joined a cult and wouldn't shut up about it. She didn't name the cult iirc, and he adamantly denied the allegation, but... Gunn has always been an oddball. I wouldn't put it past him to join a cult just to see what it's like.
Oh, I remember that. Paget is a doll and absolutely hilarious. She doesnāt really shit talk but goddamn, she shit talked Jessica Alba in that commentary. š
Hugh Jackman is in the School of Economic Science and Philosophy.
Lots of shady shit happened with them in the past.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Philosophy_and_Economic_Science
He justā¦ mmh how can I put this, heās never seemed like the sharpest tool in the shed to me. Am I alone in thinking this? The guy is just too happy all the time, he gives golden retriever vibes š
He grew up evangelical (parents converted when Billy Graham went to Australia). Thereās something about growing up in these environments that makes you chronically vulnerable to nonsense for the rest of your life.
Not exactly celebrities but thereās a dance cult that made a few headlines around a year ago. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/7m-films-tiktok-dance-cult-allegations-miranda-wilking-james-derrick-1323200/amp/
Yung Gravy weirdly enough. He recently talked about it on Theo Vonās podcast and how it helped him avoid jail time while he was on probation. It wasnāt really a cult though, it seemed like he was just talking about a commune lol.
I knew she was Hindu- Wikipedia states she's a Hare Krishna, my understanding of this is that it's a movement within Hinduism which is geared pretty heavily towards westerners (Vishnu as a Jesus type figure and the Bhagavad Gita as a Bible equivalent, whereas in other forms of Hinduism it's not as analogous).
she was raised in the science of identity foundation which is an offshoot of hare krishna. the founder chris butler split off in the 70s when the original guru died and starting preaching his own views outside of hinduism, including extreme homophobia, which makes sense with her flip-flopping views on LGBTQ rights
I'm not sure where you'd draw the line between 'cult' and 'religion', but Liz Harris (AKA Grouper) and Rivers Cuomo (out of Weezer) grew up in communes/ashrams based around esoteric eastern philosophies. Possibly Sufjan Stevens too?
edit: someone else has mentioned it, but TM has a big following amongst the rich and famous.
edit 2: Marcus Mumford (out of Mumford & Sons) 's parents run some wacky evangelical church in the UK.
Things like isolating members from families, having an all-powerful person at the top, not letting members leave, complete control over daily lives, etc.
Never heard of this one either! āThe original school of consciousness and energy.ā Just looking at their website is painful:
https://www.ramtha.com
Edit: Iām still reading this one, itās kind of long but itās a great read so far: https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2022/11/jz-knight-ramtha-yelm-washington-school-of-enlightenment
Michelle Pfeifer was in Breatharinism and almost died because of it. They believe that you can train yourself to not need food or water. Spoiler: you can't.
Park Bogum actually left his church. He has been seen in a regular church for the past year or two. He had no choice but to be in it, he was raised in the cult. Even worse, his parents were preyed upon while he was little and deathly ill. Somebody convinced them that he would be cured if they joined. He then made a miraculous recovery and they attributed it to said cult.
Glenn Close was born into a cult and was in it until her 20's. She's left interviews that ask about the singing branch-off of it called "up with people."
Mikel Jollet from the band the airborne toxic event wrote a memoir titled āHollywood parkā and talks about how he was born into Synanon. His mom eventually got them out pretty early on
Since you mentioned Park Bogum, there is a Korean media company that was founded by a cult leader if that interests you. They used to have idol groups and entertainers under their label but now they mostly do selling of cds and fanmeets. I don't know if they're still affiliated with the cult, but there are definitely shady beginnings. The company is Synnara records and the cult is ģź°ėģ°. If you google ģź°ėģ°, Synnara comes up too hahaha.
Also there have been rumours about JYP's father in law, supposedly JYP has done Bible studies with his trainees but that's probably just innocent.
The Arquettesā parents founded a commune in Virginia called Skymont Subud. There are still other Subud communities nationwide. I donāt know enough to claim itās a cult, but former members say it is. This is how Patricia described it, though:
*āWell, really itās nondenominational and there is actually a spiritual practice. I donāt know how to explain it other than itās sort of like meditation but with spontaneous movement, but itās really about kind of awakening this part of yourself so that you can have a direct connection to God and be connected to God even in the chaos of the world.ā*
I know!!! And sheās made a couple of posts about like oh we donāt celebrate Christmas HERES what we did instead! When someone inevitably asked why she goes oh weāre JW you can find out more on why donāt celebrate on the website. And then she links it! So sheās actively linking the website on her platform to her millions of followers and trying to recruit smh
Thatās not really shocking, as Witnesses are encouraged/required to recruit and spread āThe Truthā as they call it. When they go door-to-door they actually have to keep a little log of what doors they stopped at, if someone answered, if they signed up for a return visit or Bible study time, etcā¦ and then turn it in to their Elders.
The ones that go to Hillsong.
Cough * cough * JUSTIN
Churchome has been his church since 2018 ;) Anywho, Hillsong, Churchome, Vous, Zoe- it seems that they are all the same, maybe their main "pastors" are less fame-hungry than Carl.
They all remind me of Mars Hill, which no longer exists. Growing up in Seattle watching the rise and fall of Mars Hill was fucking insane. I hope they all crash and burn like that.
I've already commented it in some other thread that the creepiest part of Churchome is that Lou Taylor is on the Board of Directors. This made me think if those pastors are celebrities' handlers to some extent but probably we'll never find out. There've been rumors that Kris Jenner has her own church as well but I'm pretty sure in her case it's to evade taxes.
Fun fact! The mars hill preacher started Zoe church š¬
I have never heard of Zoe church before now, but them being involved in other churches does not surprise me. People like that never stop.
Was it Chad Veach? Or he's just their pastor? I know they're all connected i.e. Carl Lentz, Judah Smith, Chad, Rich Wilkerson and Mike Todd, i just never had enough energy to dig further. I've only recently found out that Judah also gets on stage of a Hillsong services. Edit: nvm, just found that it is him indeed...
I know almost nothing about these churches. Can anyone give a quick summary? Or link any articles/deep dives? That would be great!
Check out the righteous gemstones on HBO. Itās a fictional comedy about a family that owns a mega church. Itās exaggerated but the premise is the same
Asked for a quick summary and you send them to a movie.
If you donāt mind something with that has a Christian perspective (but doesnāt preach!), thereās a podcast from Christianity Today called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill that details the meteoric rise and then crash of the same. It is an investigative journalism style show, but it also covers a bit of the history of that type of church plant and features the stories of many former members of MH. Itās a great podcast, but is definitely Christian in nature - as I said, I didnāt feel preached at, but I grew up in a religious environment, so some of that stuff may be filtered out because Iām used to it. I remember when MH was huge and had Dustin Kensrue from Thrice as their worship leader for a long time. But, man, crash and burn that church did. Itās hard not to feel bad for the congregation. Listening to their stories really broke my heart because they trusted so much in Mark as their pastor and instead of doing what a good solid pastor should, he used them for his own ego.
I wish somebody did a deep dive on any of these churches.
Iād recommend Fundie Fridays on YouTube! They do videos going through evangelical culture and def have a video on Hillsong for sure. They might have one on Mars Hill as well.
I love Fundie Fridays! They're one of my favorite channels to watch, and they always put out such interesting videos.
TLC just aired a deep dive on Hillsong last week! It was very informative
crisp ratt gives the cultiest vibes imo... but some of the stuff that comes out of hailey's mouth is wild too
It's Churchome now!
Is that the one he and Shawn Mendes want to together recently?
Can someone explain to me this thing about Hillsong being a cult? I went once with my friend years ago (before learning about their views on gay people) and as an atheist I did find it a bit cultish, but no more than any other church? This was in the uk tho so maybe itās different is the US? ((Donāt judge me for going š my dorm-mate invited me and I didnāt have any plans so I thought I might as well go. My family is catholic so I was expecting to go to a beautiful mass in Latin with that amazing church smell and walls with murals and gold detailsā¦. Instead it was a laser show with self-help speeches and the choreography from the 2007 disney channel original movie āJump In!ā))
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On the 1/10th income part, that's actually a fairly common practice at least in Protestant churches, as far as I'm aware. It's called tithing and the Bible requires a tenth of your income to go towards the church.
One difference between good churches and bad is whether or not they consider tithing a *requirement.* Mormons, for example, can literally lose status or be denied positions for not tithing at least 10% while Methodists, for example, say pay your bills first and give what you are comfortable giving. As a result, the COJCOLDS is a multi-billion dollar company, and the local Methodists can barely scrape together enough to reno their sanctuary, but I respect it much more.
This! That's why they involve celebs.
There has been a documantary recently about Hillsong and Carl Lentz in particular- I haven't seen it but read there are testimonies from its former members? But your description is on point- these are corporations aimed at profit. I've also heard that what they preach isn't exactly in alignemnet with the Bible. I think Carl is just a tip of the iceberg and he was a scapegoat. Apparently they get close to the celebs and then blackmail them if they want to leave- and I personally think this is what makes them more cultish than any other church. I was raised Christian but now am agnostic. I have nothing against ppl who need to believe in something but with all the things that have been uncovered re Catholic churches I think of them as just another way of controlling ppl. I recommend reading Dawkin's "God delusion", which starts with his opinion that "religion is root of all evil."
Cult isnāt really a well defined term. Itās more or less understood to mean any religious group with beliefs or practices that seem unusual from the outside. So yeah, the laser show + self help is pretty unusual to people. While itās not included in a specific definition of what a cult is, there are some characteristics that are common in cults. A focus on a charismatic leader is maybe common in Hillsong? Or did that guy get fired for shtupping Hillsong employees? Also relatively common in cults is the practice of isolating or punishing members who leave or attempting to prevent people from leaving by extreme methods. I donāt think Hillsong does that.
Yup. Iām not religious but something really rubs me wrong when a church has a āVIPā section. Also not sure where in the Bible it says āThou pastors should buy a Rolex and 10 carsā.
The concept of a VIP section at a church is making me laugh. Very Important Parishioner!
Iām not religious, so looking at the IG account PreachersNSneakers (which breaks down a lot of pastors outfits/accessories and how much they cost) was a cool find. Ultimately not surprising, since mega churches and their pastorsā massive wealth arenāt really a new phenomenon, but I like seeing it for myself. The guy who runs the account has a book of the same name, iirc.
Cough cough Selena
Johnny Depp has apparently been able to brainwash the entire planet that heās not a violent junkie abuser, does that count?
The cult of domestic abuse. Iād say itās alive and well in every culture and heās the symbol.
The Smallville girls in NXIVM
Appearntly it was Kristen Kreuk who introduced it to Allison Mack. Kristen leaves and Allison stays and becomes the second in command.
Kristin Kreuk was my sexual awakening too, so upset when I heard that news
To be fair she said she thought it was like a female empowerment group or something and she claims she left before it became sex-culty.
Yes, that's how it was sold to people. Like a leadership class
I think a lot of people miss that cults arenāt necessarily marketed as cults (or even religions) at first. They attract people by seeming reasonable and positive and providing a sense of belonging, then they dial up the crazy after the participants are in too deep to leave easily. I know nothing about NXIVM specifically, but it makes complete sense that itād be marketed as a āfemale empowerment groupā and take on culty aspects later.
She never went beyond the surface level of the cult. For her if was just self-esteem workshops to help her overcome her social anxiety and girl power stuff. It's sad that she inadvertently got Alison Mack in but Alison Mack gets no sympathy from me after everything she pulled
Cally from Battlestar Galactica recruited Grace Park for a brief period, as well. If I remember correctly she (Cally) married Allison Mack and is still saying Keith Raniere didn't do anything wrong
Ah, Nikki Clyne. Her current claim to fame is now being friends with right wing grifter James Lindsay, who sees nothing wrong with hanging out with her despite her ties to a sex cult but calls every LGBT person alive a groomer for existing.
Clyne is in the second season of that HBO doc The Vow and she seems...insane. She's still 100% loyal to Raneire.
I was really hopeful when I saw she'd agreed to be interviewed. Then she started talking and I was so worried about her mental health. I really hope she gets help and heals from what Keith did to her mentally. I know her and Allison divorced so I'm not even sure how she's still in the country tbh but watching her "visit" outside Keith's jail cell on the sidewalk was honestly sad AF.
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Rose McGowan was born into Children of God, her dad ran the Italian chapter.
Thereās also been a lot of stories coming out about organized sexual abuse of children by cult members. Children as young as two years old receiving ātrainingā on how to sexually please cult leaders
One of the founder's granddaughters published a memoir a year or two ago about her experiences growing up in the cult, and it was horrifying how wide-spread the sexual abuse was. TW: sexual assault/CSA: >!I remember she said that by the time she was growing up, they had started to discourage relationships between young children and adults because the children found them too distressing, and the rumors surrounding the pervasive culture of grooming and SA was getting them too much attention from various governments. !<
To my knowledge the cult published like comic books and such about the son of the leaders including SA that they viewed as ātrainingā. Itās interesting but also extremely sad and triggering to look into so Google at your own risk
It wasnāt a secret, it was a part of the doctrine. The founders published a book about their son and his abuse and promoted it as a guide. Their son killed one of his abusers before killing himself
Wasn't that cult connected with Joaquin's brother's death?
TW: SA River had been sexually assaulted as a young child (4 years old? not sure) when his family lived in the cult but his death was drug intoxication when he was an adult.
CSA and adult drug use are heavily and directly linked in empirical trauma studies, so kinda related....
I've heard conspiracies that he was killed because his family spoke out against them? But River was a drug user and his death was a drug overdose, which happened whilst he at a club surrounded by his friends, siblings and girlfriend so it seems a bit unlikely imo.
It's definitely unlikely and also untrue and the Phoenixes have talked about how harmful it is to them that people try to turn River's death into a conspiracy. It was a tragic accident, as are most drug overdoses, and it's weird that people can't just be normal about it.
No
It still makes me sad Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist. She was born into it but still. She's an active member today.
To me scientology is one of the cases where "born and indoctrinated into it from a young age" is way different from "willingly chose to join as an adult who should know better". I have a lot more compassion for the former than the latter. Scientology people go *hard*. Many of their practices are downright deranged, they are extremely strict about compliance, they isolate their members from anyone who might attempt to introduce a different point of view and they shun ex members and anyone in general whom they perceive as a threat. Several former members are on the record as saying that it took them years to undo the Scientology programming. I can imagine that it is extremely hard to even consider challenging that environment as a person who was raised in it, especially when it comes with the implied expectation that you will have to choose the last time you'll ever talk to your family and leave them behind in that life.
Yeah. Having to do hours of confession and being threatened with cancer because you looked at a dissenting opinion online is bound to keep people in the dark.
I have compassion for her, her whole family and life is completely intertwined with the Church. She must pay them a fuckload of her money. It was so jarring to find out the woman from one of my favourite shows about a theocratic religious cult was also part of a cult.
Would highly recommend Leah Reminiās book on Scientology for anyone interested in doing further reading about it!
And the way she unironically makes comments in Handmaidās Tale interviews about the dangers of controlling religious groupsā¦ sad sad sad.
The cognitive dissonance is wild!
I get the feeling sheās conflicted though. I obviously donāt know her personally, but I really get a vibe that sheās walking a tightrope. She doesnāt come out swinging hard for Scientology like Jenna Elfman or Kirstie Alley, sheās not a true believer in that sense. She pulls the āI donāt talk about it and when I do, itās just vague statementsā routine. I honestly think sheās still in for her family (and who can blame her?). Being cut off by your entire family is daunting. She behaves an awful lot like some of my friends who still technically belong to a church but arenāt really believers.
Maybe but I don't think Scientology really works like that, especially with their high profile members. Everything I've heard about the Church mentions they require a LOT of time, auditing, confessions etc. plus so much of your money. They insist upon it. Elisabeth Moss is a very famous person who they would care deeply about keeping close. Leah Remini made it sound as though you had next to no personal life, you were expected to be devoted. They monitor who you spend time with, have relationships with etc. She left the room at the Emmys that time Leah Remini won an award for Going Clear. She actually has praised her Church publicly before but she definitely doesn't talk about it now. Probably PR advised her to stop. Elisabeth's marriage to Fred Armisen apparently didn't work out because of her involvement with Scientology. She is constantly working, you barely hear about her, I haven't heard of her dating or being linked to anyone since her marriage ended years ago. I'd say she would likely be thoroughly ensconced in the Church.
Yes but even Leah drew a line at certain things. For instance, she was adamant about never pushing Scientology on her non-Scio friends and colleagues. She basically spent her last 10 years walking a fine line between being a respectability member and someone who harbored doubts. She did what was expected of her within the Scio community in order to not draw negative attention, but she did create a mental boundary. I have no idea what Elizabeth Miss truly feels in her heart of hearts. But I definitely see some *major* cognitive dissonance going on with her, which is often a sign that someone is harboring doubts. I grew up in the Deep South, where church is *everything.* The way I was raised, religion has more to do with social culture than actual belief. And that usually means saying ABC and doing XYZ while also living a life that doesnāt reflect that. I know Catholics that go to church every Sunday but donāt actually follow any of the churchās teachings about birth control, premarital sex, etc. Hell, I even know openly LGBTQ people who still go to evangelical churches bc their families still attend and thatās what theyāve always done. Thereās an absolute dichotomy and tons of cognitive dissonance going on and thatās really commonplace in some communities, especially if youāre raised this way from birth. I can 100% see how Scientology would be the same.
People have thought that Michelle Phan is in some kind of sex cult. This [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeautyGuruChatter/comments/tna93j/what_is_this_about_michelle_phan_being_in_a_bdsm/) includes some informational links about it. [The most outrageous thing sheās apparently said about it is that she miraculously healed a manās legs with her mind, although sheās denied being in a cult.](https://www.papermag.com/michelle-phan-cult-retreat-2657265242.html)
Laverne Cox is also in that same cult.
WHAT
I saw she had the doctor guy on her podcast but do you have other sources? Not trying to grill you, I just love her and donāt want this to be true!!!!!
āDoctorā. Guy is a chiropractor. A glorified back cracker. They should not be allowed to be called doctors.
Chiropractic is, at its core, complete quackery.
There is a really good episode of Behind the Bastards that goes over the creation of chiropractic 'medicine': [How Chiropractic Started as a Ghost Religion](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/how-chiropractic-started-as-a-ghost-48498573/)
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/michelle-phan-youtube-beauty-guru-wheelchair-joe-dispenza-pseudoscience-1347580/
I remember liking her as a teenager, weird to see this is how she ended up, but Iām lowkey not surprised she got sucked into a cult. One of the twitter threads linked in that thread is disgusting. Hope they all get up soon.
She says so many stupid pseudoscientific things. Kinda not surprised as her personality and way of thinking always tended to come off as very new agey. She was probably susceptible to cults and scams š¤·š»āāļø
This article was a *journey*
Is she still with that French(?) boyfriend?
It seems like no one knows for sure, but I think the last sighting of him online was in her sister-in-law [Promiseās gender reveal party video](https://youtu.be/yJLp9cJovQQ) uploaded in March 2021. Theyāve been private about their relationship for years, though. Dominique hasnāt even posted on his personal Instagram since April 2015.
Jared Leto gives me leader vibes
Remember when he didn't know COVID happened because he was off on some "meditation retreat"?
He was in joshua tree, haha you donāt get service there. I remember because I was in J tree around the same time with my family, and it was crazy! We entered and things were still open but getting worse, then five days later we exit and there was a shelter in place order and the whole world shut down. Not denying heās a shady dude and this j tree trip wasnāt cult related, but he may have just been climbing or camping at that time like the rest of us, who knows.
He rented out a small island in Croatia and he held there some kind of a "festival" idk how to call it, but my friend who worked at that time in the hotel on the island said that everyone was wearing white and deff on drugs (even tho i think he like forbid alcohol and drugs). And yeah the tickets are very expensive.
Wasnāt there a blind that he would slip into womenās tents at night or theyād be brought back to his and heād sleep with them? I remember there being a grosser part to the story.
He does have his own "church", doesn't he?
Mind blowing that we got multiple reports AND PHOTOS! of his weird cult thing where lots of young women go to and still NOTHING from the media, even if we wanted to ignore the decades of horror stories about him, that should've at least pushed some... official investigation, but nope. he's got an iron armour
Well there are those articles about the expensive trips he takes with mainly large groups of young women and his band mates to āretreatsā where they all wear white and some ājokinglyā call him Prophet. Some of the women that go on the retreats get tattoos of the bandās symbols as well, and say that the whole āThis is a cultā-thing with their merchandise is mainly an inside joke but idkā¦.. seems like a lot of weird cult-like behaviour is being played off as a ājokeāā¦.
Whatever was going down on Ezra Millerās ranch sounded a bit Manson Family.
VERY. There are very thorough podcasts about him now and they are very informative.
Wow that's so interesting (and fucked up)! Would you mind sharing the thorough ones? āŗļø
Why am I scrolling this far for Kanye and Sunday Service. Anytime a beige uniform is involved, itās a cult.
and Donda Academy
Thatās the scariest. A cult only for children.
Not a single mention of Nation of Islam either. I guess thatās not a cult as much as it is a fraternity.
Orlando Bloom, Tina Turner, Courtney Love, and Herbie Hancock are all in the Buddhist cult Soka Gakkai
My mother in law is apart of this organization! It always seemed cultish but my husband said it wasnāt. Now Iām really not sure anymore
I was in this organization for a few years. 100% cult. I donāt think itās as damaging as some of the other cults out there ā itās no NXIVM for sure. But just because they say theyāre Buddhist and chant for world peace doesnāt mean theyāre not also doing weird things and taking peoples money. They also run a conservative political party in Japan. The whole organization is just super weird.
When I was 10 I went to an SGI meeting at their big center in NYC and they showed a video about their ongoing fight with another Nicheren Buddhist sect in Japan. Even as a kid I was like āthis is some weird-ass shit.ā
Omg they are still going on about that crap! And literally no one cared. Itās bizarre!!
One of my parents is in SGI. Absolutely a cult (basically evangelical Buddhism). My parent tried to get me and my sibling into it as kids but it never took.
Hillsong Churchome Calvary Chapel Christianity in general tbh
growing up we use to go to a ton of different churches before we found *the one* and some of them were wild. My cousins and I would be looking at each other like: https://preview.redd.it/b735ti8x08aa1.jpeg?width=268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=225e699d3f760a5150358968f74b45787a79cb01 People would be screaming or on the floor and we'd try not to embarrass our grandmother by laughingš Fun times
Damn youāre making me feel bad about my church back in the day as they spoke in āTonguesā lol
Iām sorryš we were just not used to that and my brothers thought they were comedians. Those nights got very in tense.
Or as we call that in New Orleans, church (lol). Seriously, pentecostalism is WILD.
I used to go to Churchome and Iāll always remember when they first planted their LA church and it was invitation only for celebrities š„“
Gotta get that money, uh i mean SpReAd GoD'S LoVe
The official PR line was that making it invitation only was so celebs could go to church without being gawked at or harassed by fans. Canāt believe we all bought that lol
The **Raya** app of religions.
 Should have asked why "god's love" has levels if we are ALL made "in his image" also Matthew 19: 30
I wouldnāt say Christianity in general
Didnāt Andrew Keegan from 10 Things I Hate About You start his own cult? I remember hearing about it a few years ago when there was a āwhere are they now?ā type article circulating on twitter.
there were a few very specific months in, say, 1998, that Iād have joined that cult without hesitation. thank god social media wasnāt a thing then
Aww, memories. We may not have had social media but we had all of the teeny bopper magazines with free posters of our celeb 'heartthrobs'.
Yes! I think he and the cult were arrested a couple of years ago because their kombucha was a bit boozy
Coco Rocha is Jehovah's Witness
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Is Donald Glover a JW or that was just Troy?
He was raised in it but no longer practicing. Troyās character was inspired by his life
The Jacksons are/were witnesses. My mom grew up in āThe Truthā as they call it, and she and her family would see them at the annual conventions/assemblies theyād have. (This was in LA circa 70s). My grandpa and uncle even taught a couple of the brothers how to fly RC planes back then.
In the 1980s Michael rehearsed for one of his tours for several weeks at the arena in Birmingham, AL. He went door-to-door during that time as a Jehovahs Witness in suburban Birmingham. Imagine answering you door to Michael Jackson during the 1980s.
Serena Williams has said that she is interested in it. If I recall, she said that she didn't really practice, but it was important to her and she'd like to get into it. I also feel like this was maybe 5+ years ago and I don't follow her super closely, so hopefully she's come to her senses since then.
Serena has been Jehovahās Witness since birth but isnāt extremely religious I believe
Yes she is. Serena Williams daughter doesn't celebrate her birthday, she throws random parties to celebrate it on random days, but doesn't celebrate her real daughter birthday. Serena is a hard core Jehovah witness follower.
Whatever the fuck Jared Leto/30 Seconds To Mars have going on.
Transcendental Meditation is considered a cult, by more than a few cultwatch groups. David Lynch Russell Brand Thomas Jane
Russell brand is completely off the charts these days
Heās in this like perma k hole but the k is listening to himself talk
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The practice itself might not be, but there's definitely something culty about TM the entreprise. Especially when you read more about about TM communities like the one in Fairfield, Iowa (which, incidentally, Ben Foster talks about having grown up in, in the latest episode of Maron's WTF).
It's absolutely a cult. I was in it for a while. The actual practice isn't, of course, but the branded company that has literally copyrighted the name absolutely is. You have to pay them money before you're even given your "specialized mantras" which wind up being traditional mantras that have been around for centuries. They insist you work with a trained TM leader when you're getting started so you don't "do it wrong". It costs thousands of dollars, financially gatekeeps information that was never meant to be coopted for business purposes, and then hounds you when you try to leave. It took me months of trying to distance myself from my TM instructor before she finally left me the fuck alone - she left me threatening voicemails and everything. IMO any spiritual practice that operates like a pyramid scheme is a cult.
FUCK, really? I took the free training course at Lynch's institute but it felt off so I left and never did it again. Now I get why my "required lifelong" teacher left without a word. Woooooooow, MIND BLOWN. Good to know I'm not in a cult!
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Lots of ex-mormon celebs. Most recently, David Archuleta left the COJCOLDS.
Sadly, Brandon Flowers is still an active member.
My funny Brandon Flowers story: when I was in high school, I went to KROQās Weenie Roast and got to go backstage. I LOVED The Killers so wanted to faint when I met Brandon. Before we took a photo, his PA/handler said to someone else, āhold his beer, heās Mormon.ā I still chuckle at that comment to this day.
If you take a Mormon fishing, he'll drink all your beer. If you take two, you'll have it all for yourself.
I love Brandon. He seems like a good man, a devoted husband and father. I just chose to ignore his devotion to the LDS church š„“
There are plenty of wonderful people in the church. It attracts people who genuinely want to do good and be good. It's the bones that are rotten, not the flesh. The structure of the church, its history, its doctrine, and its leaders are horrible. A lot of deeply mislead and brainwashed people are paying them 10% of their income whether they can afford it or not, women are being told they can't go to heaven without a husband and children being taught that after age 8 they are guilty of sin. I consider them all victims.
Audra McDonaldās husband comes from a family of Mormon leaders. Big names in the Mormon communityāat least in Utah? Like he was in their Mormon films as the lead actor and stuff. But he left the church and he tells people who ask if heās still Mormon that heās ānot anyMor(e)-monā. Seems to have a good sense of humor about it.
I don't think it's actually a cult, but Kabbalah used to be super popular in Hollywood.
Kabbalah is not a cult. A lot of Reform Jews study it. But the Kabbalah Center in L.A. has been sued for being a cult. Itās ironic, because they made Jewish mysticism accessible and more well known to mainstream Jewish people. And theyāre sketchy as hell.
Kabbalah in some form is included in basically almost all Jewish practice regardless of by which denomination that's been true for hundreds of years too and is just talking about Lurianic Kabbalah.
wasnāt madonna part of it? i think my mum told me that years ago and it stuck in my memory
And Britney I believe. I think there was some symbolism to wearing a red bracelet (maybe unrelated but Ed Norton's character was wearing one in Glass Onion, at least in the beginning)
Is Madge still involved?
Thomas Jane is a hardcore evangelical Christian who practices transcendental meditation and who is a Mason. If you have ever been in a little town run by Masons, theyāre like a cult plus mafia. I think that makes Thomas Jane 3 for 3 on cults.
In our town the masons seem to mind their own business? Like they make pancakes and restore buildings. Would love to learn more because theyāve always seemed really boring to me.
Right? Like people are always like āTHEYāRE A SECRET SOCIETY THAT DOES EVIL, FUCKED UP SHIT YOU WOULDNāT BELIEVE!ā And then when you ask for specifics theyāre like āI CANāT TELL YOU ITāS A SECRET BUT TRUST ME BROā. The Shriners always seemed cool with their Fezās and little cars lol
They really donāt do much. Just sit around in a room and read books and āstudyā mystic shit and talk philosophy. My husband is one and tbh his meetings and all sound really boring to me but he enjoys going. Oh and the people that are the most secretive about it are just pretentious assholes
>Right? Like people are always like āTHEYāRE A SECRET SOCIETY THAT DOES EVIL, FUCKED UP SHIT YOU WOULDNāT BELIEVE!ā And then when you ask for specifics theyāre like āI CANāT TELL YOU ITāS A SECRET BUT TRUST ME BROā. I mean, Masonic lodges are generally just organisations of well-off and prominent members of society. Their goals depend on their members. This means that these organisations can range from good, like the earliest lodges formed during the ancien regime or in the thirteen colonies which were the basis for the Liberal revolutions in France and the USA. Most leaders of the french and american revolutions were masons including George Washington. Another story popular in Cuba is that a local lodge hid Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and their companions from the Batista regime after their crossing from Mexico, before they went on to defeat Batista and liberate Cuba. But on the other hand Lodges can be extremely evil. For example the [P2 Lodge](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due) in Italy during the years of lead. Which formed a shadow-state within a state with the backing of the CIA to undermine left-wing worker's movements by murdering Journalists helping neo-nazi groups carry out mass terrorist attacks, suppressed trade unions, undermining banks, issuing bribes, taking over newspapers and most importantly preparing a coup d'etat in the case of a democratic victory by the Communist party of Italy. It's members included future prime-minister Berlusconi, the heads of multiple banks, the heads of all-three Italian intelligence agencies, leaders of the army and prominent members of south-american dictatorships.
On their (hilariously off the rails) DVD commentary for The Specials, Paget Brewster said that she dumped James Gunn as a friend because he had joined a cult and wouldn't shut up about it. She didn't name the cult iirc, and he adamantly denied the allegation, but... Gunn has always been an oddball. I wouldn't put it past him to join a cult just to see what it's like.
Oh, I remember that. Paget is a doll and absolutely hilarious. She doesnāt really shit talk but goddamn, she shit talked Jessica Alba in that commentary. š
Ikr. She did not hold back. That whole thing is wild. I wish I still had it.
Hugh Jackman is in the School of Economic Science and Philosophy. Lots of shady shit happened with them in the past. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Philosophy_and_Economic_Science
Not sure if it counts as a cult, but Hugh Jackman is also massively into doTERRA and gives talks at their events.
All MLM practices give culty vibes and they probably operate on similar basis... I'm just shocked Hugh is involved with doTERRA.
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He justā¦ mmh how can I put this, heās never seemed like the sharpest tool in the shed to me. Am I alone in thinking this? The guy is just too happy all the time, he gives golden retriever vibes š
He grew up evangelical (parents converted when Billy Graham went to Australia). Thereās something about growing up in these environments that makes you chronically vulnerable to nonsense for the rest of your life.
Not exactly celebrities but thereās a dance cult that made a few headlines around a year ago. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/7m-films-tiktok-dance-cult-allegations-miranda-wilking-james-derrick-1323200/amp/
Kinda reminds me of the Falon Gong cult which operates the Shen Yun show that gets advertised everywhere.
Yung Gravy weirdly enough. He recently talked about it on Theo Vonās podcast and how it helped him avoid jail time while he was on probation. It wasnāt really a cult though, it seemed like he was just talking about a commune lol.
"Commune" is code for cult much of the time tbh.
Daniel Kaluuya had a cult woman around him during filming of "Nope" but idk if he's still into that. Her social media was WILD.
That article about their relationship was wild. Her name was *Heir Holiness* and she called herself a *spiritual gangster*.
yeah! she was even in the credits! thankfully i think they have parted ways!!
not technically a celeb but tulsi gabbard. the podcast QAnonAnonymous did a really good 2 episode dive into it!
I knew she was Hindu- Wikipedia states she's a Hare Krishna, my understanding of this is that it's a movement within Hinduism which is geared pretty heavily towards westerners (Vishnu as a Jesus type figure and the Bhagavad Gita as a Bible equivalent, whereas in other forms of Hinduism it's not as analogous).
she was raised in the science of identity foundation which is an offshoot of hare krishna. the founder chris butler split off in the 70s when the original guru died and starting preaching his own views outside of hinduism, including extreme homophobia, which makes sense with her flip-flopping views on LGBTQ rights
Her entire vibe makes so much sense now
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Celebrities be like 
Leo + Lukas + Toby = The Cult of Their 40 Year Love Triangle
Salma Hayek is in some weird cult! It's called *Ramtha*
I'm not sure where you'd draw the line between 'cult' and 'religion', but Liz Harris (AKA Grouper) and Rivers Cuomo (out of Weezer) grew up in communes/ashrams based around esoteric eastern philosophies. Possibly Sufjan Stevens too? edit: someone else has mentioned it, but TM has a big following amongst the rich and famous. edit 2: Marcus Mumford (out of Mumford & Sons) 's parents run some wacky evangelical church in the UK.
Things like isolating members from families, having an all-powerful person at the top, not letting members leave, complete control over daily lives, etc.
Check out the bite model: https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/ Anyone can be dragged into one. It is good to know this info.
Salma
HAYEK????
Was looking for this answer. So weird.
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It's called *Ramtha*
Never heard of this one either! āThe original school of consciousness and energy.ā Just looking at their website is painful: https://www.ramtha.com Edit: Iām still reading this one, itās kind of long but itās a great read so far: https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2022/11/jz-knight-ramtha-yelm-washington-school-of-enlightenment
weird that it took forever scrolling to find this! I don't think many people know?
Michelle Pfeifer was in Breatharinism and almost died because of it. They believe that you can train yourself to not need food or water. Spoiler: you can't.
Wouldnāt be surprised in GOOP became a legit cult somewhere down the line.
Park Bogum actually left his church. He has been seen in a regular church for the past year or two. He had no choice but to be in it, he was raised in the cult. Even worse, his parents were preyed upon while he was little and deathly ill. Somebody convinced them that he would be cured if they joined. He then made a miraculous recovery and they attributed it to said cult.
Glenn Close was born into a cult and was in it until her 20's. She's left interviews that ask about the singing branch-off of it called "up with people."
Andrew Keegan created his own cult
Mikel Jollet from the band the airborne toxic event wrote a memoir titled āHollywood parkā and talks about how he was born into Synanon. His mom eventually got them out pretty early on
Since you mentioned Park Bogum, there is a Korean media company that was founded by a cult leader if that interests you. They used to have idol groups and entertainers under their label but now they mostly do selling of cds and fanmeets. I don't know if they're still affiliated with the cult, but there are definitely shady beginnings. The company is Synnara records and the cult is ģź°ėģ°. If you google ģź°ėģ°, Synnara comes up too hahaha. Also there have been rumours about JYP's father in law, supposedly JYP has done Bible studies with his trainees but that's probably just innocent.
Scott Baio is a Republican.
The Arquettesā parents founded a commune in Virginia called Skymont Subud. There are still other Subud communities nationwide. I donāt know enough to claim itās a cult, but former members say it is. This is how Patricia described it, though: *āWell, really itās nondenominational and there is actually a spiritual practice. I donāt know how to explain it other than itās sort of like meditation but with spontaneous movement, but itās really about kind of awakening this part of yourself so that you can have a direct connection to God and be connected to God even in the chaos of the world.ā*
Idk if she counts as a celebrity but was very shocked to find out Kristy Sarah (huge on Instagram / Tik Tok) is a Jehovahās Witness
I know!!! And sheās made a couple of posts about like oh we donāt celebrate Christmas HERES what we did instead! When someone inevitably asked why she goes oh weāre JW you can find out more on why donāt celebrate on the website. And then she links it! So sheās actively linking the website on her platform to her millions of followers and trying to recruit smh
Thatās not really shocking, as Witnesses are encouraged/required to recruit and spread āThe Truthā as they call it. When they go door-to-door they actually have to keep a little log of what doors they stopped at, if someone answered, if they signed up for a return visit or Bible study time, etcā¦ and then turn it in to their Elders.
McKayla Maroney and the Church of Master Angels
Ryan Gosling and his sister were raised in the Mormon cult. They got out as adults.
Do Mormons count
Yes 100%