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Cults

Cults
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Cults. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, at the entrance of the Japan branch headquarters in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Japan

How the Unification Church is facing fallout in Japan from Shinzo Abe’s murder

Critics have called the group a ‘money-making business’, with many people having lost huge sums of money from its ‘spiritual sales’.

Japan

Video | Former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe’s killer sentenced to life

Malaysia

Malaysian religious leaders urged to provide evidence of South Korean ‘cult’

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Japan

Japanese court orders Unification Church to pay US$340,000 over donations scam

The first such agreement between the church and its former followers opens the path for over 180 victims to seek compensation.

Han Hak-ja, widow of Moon Sun-myung, sprays holy water to bless couples during a Unification Church mass wedding ceremony. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Revival of terror? Japan fears death cult founder’s son poised to ‘seize power’

A woman widowed by the 1995 Tokyo sarin attack warns the founder’s son is poised to rebuild the notorious cult and its deadly ambitions.

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India

Indian family of 5 beaten to death over ‘witchcraft’ claims

Witchcraft beliefs persist in rural India, particularly in tribal communities. Hundreds were killed on suspicion of witchcraft in recent years.

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Japan

Court orders dissolution of Unification Church in Japan after Abe killing probe

The man accused of killing former PM Shinzo Abe resented the South Korea-based sect, which had decades of cosy ties to Japan’s ruling party.

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The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is seen at the entrance of the Japanese branch’s headquarters in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Japan

30 years on, Tokyo sarin attack victims seek justice against Aum cult offshoots

The cult behind the attack has yet to compensate its victims, while its offshoots continue to gain followers and amass wealth.

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Japan

Controversial ‘Moonies’ Unification Church may be dissolved in Japan

If confirmed, the sect nicknamed the ‘Moonies’ will become the third religious group ordered to disband in Japan.

Australia

Australia jails 14 sect members over ‘slow and painful’ death of girl, 8

The girl’s mother and father, the leader and other members of the home-based church were jailed for manslaughter.

Elizabeth Struhs, 8, died after her parents withheld insulin. Photo: Handout
Thailand

Video | Black magic cult corpse rituals investigated in Thailand

Officers raided the encampment on November 20, following reports that devotees were “meditating with corpses” to learn clairvoyance.

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Black magic cult corpse rituals investigated in Thailand.
Malaysia

Malaysia’s religious authority accuses firm in child abuse probe of slavery

GISB has long been controversial for its ties to the Al-Arqam sect that is banned in Malaysia for deviant teachings and cultlike activities.

Fame and celebrity

8 Hollywood stars who have been in cults, from Joaquin Phoenix to Glenn Close

Joaquin and River Phoenix were both in the Children of God cult, which encouraged child abuse, while David and Patricia Arquette’s parents started a controversial ‘spiritual movement’.

Malaysia

22 people from Malaysian cult group linked to child sex abuse to fight charges

All of the accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of being members of an organised crime group.

CEO of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) Nasiruddin Mohd Ali arrives at Selayang court to face charges. Photo: Reuters
Crime

A short history of Asia’s fascination with cults and their dark secrets

Delve into chilling tales of followers lured by false promises of salvation – and the cult leaders who preyed on their vulnerabilities.

Televisions in Japan show news of Shoko Asahara’s execution in 2018. His Aum Shinrikyo cult could have produced enough sarin gas to kill millions, investigators said. Photo: Kyodo
Malaysia

GISB and the horrific reality behind Malaysia’s worst child sex abuse scandal

The GISB scandal reveals a harrowing tale of exploitation, as former members recount a legacy of abuse hidden behind a facade of faith.

Malaysia

My Take | Malaysia owes it to young victims of cult-linked group to start healing process

The authorities have said little about the steps they will take to help the more than 550 children recover from their trauma.

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Malaysia

Members of firm in Malaysia child sex abuse case had multiple wives: police

Some members have four wives and 34 children, with many of them living in care homes where the alleged abuse took place, police chief says.

The headquarters of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) in Rawang, on the outskirts of Selangor state, Malaysia. Photo: AP
Malaysia

Malaysian police arrest CEO of company accused in child sex abuse scandal

The CEO’s company allegedly ran the welfare homes from which authorities rescued over 400 children last week.

Malaysia

Islamic sect-linked company denies sex abuse of Malaysian minors

Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings says parties with an ‘agenda to bring down the image’ of its business are behind the claims.

Africa

Kenya’s starvation cult leader goes on trial for manslaughter over mass deaths

The grisly case led the government to flag the need for tighter control of fringe denominations, while questions have been raised about how Mackenzie evaded law enforcement despite a history of extremism.

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Paul Mackenzie, a Kenyan cult leader accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves to death in Shakahola forest, is escorted to the law courts in Malindi. Photo: Reuters
Africa

Kenyan cult leader on trial for terrorism as 400 starved to death to ‘meet Jesus’

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who was arrested in April last year, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to “meet Jesus”.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (left) is surrounded by Kenya Police Officers as he appears at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024. Photo: AFP/File
Japan

2 years after Abe’s shooting, ‘second-generation’ church members struggling

Second-generation Unification Church members are still struggling with the impact of being born into a family of avid followers, such as being denied access to higher education or employment.

Africa

Families shed tears of relief as first Kenya cult massacre bodies released

DNA identification has been slow, with just 34 of the 429 bodies exhumed between April and October last year positively identified through DNA profiling.

Africa

Kenya cult leader charged with murdering 191 kids in Shakahola forest massacre

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie was arrested in April 2023 after bodies were found in the Shakahola forest. Autopsies revealed most of the 429 victims died of hunger.

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Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie was charged with 191 counts of murder on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Thailand

Thailand hosts UFO music festival in city that sect claims is ‘Area 51 of Asia’

In central Thailand, where a Buddhist UFO sect claims it has been speaking to aliens for two decades, believers are flocking to the ‘first UFO music festival in Asia’.

Thai rock star Sek Loso was among the acts at ‘Belief Fest’. Photo: Neil Shelley
Netflix

Where are Jeff and Shaleia Divine, the couple behind Twin Flames Universe?

Their ‘love cult’ features in Netflix docuseries Escaping Twin Flames – so what are the allegations, did they ever get charged, and where are they now?

South Korea

South Korean church’s practices in spotlight as Fiji steps up crackdown

Grace Road Church has been accused of being a cult and its leaders charged with abuse, but its companies have also had a major impact on Fiji’s economy.

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