On Belief: A Podcast About Cults

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Religion & Spirituality
**On Belief: A Podcast About Cults**

We all would like to think that we’re immune to being persuaded, but were that true, advertising wouldn’t work, the best candidates would always get elected, and our personal relationships would always be equitable.
On Belief examines why, with so much information available to us to dissuade us from joining harmful groups. I ask people who have had first hand experience with harmful groups and sects how they were seduced, how they were tricked, and how they got out.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 217: Glynn Washington on Heaven's Gate Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

Glynn Washington and I discuss:

Why he wanted to revisit Heaven's Gate
Why there are people who are sad they missed their chance to join the departed
What chilled him to his bone in the interview process
What it was like for him growing up in a cult
What it's like for an African American man to be in a cult with White Supremacist doctrine
What it was like to leave his cult
What he learned in covering Heaven's Gate decades later
And more...

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Episode 216: XXXXXXX Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

The promise of Large Group Awareness Training is that it's a "bootcamp for the mind." You can get a lot of therapeutic benefit out of just a few highly intense days.

The problem is, LGATs have always been pure moneymaking operations with no credible therapeutic basis.

In this episode, Kate and I discuss:

How she got involved with XXXXXXX
What actually happens inside the seminars, day by day
Why people were sobbing in the bathrooms
Why the seminar tells you to call and make amends with relatives, even if they abused you.
What happened in the guided meditation sessions
What rattled her to her core
And much more...

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Episode 215: Soka Gakkai International with Juana Castanheira PART TWO Jan 01, 2020

Show notes

Juana Castanheira, our survivor of SGI contacted me after her episode to ask to further articulate what processing out of a cult looks like.

In this episode, we discuss:

The shame and guilt of leaving
What happened when she tried to resign from her leadership position at SGI
Why she later worked again for SGI
Her experiences with MLMs
Her experiences with Transcendental Meditation and her sister being in the group
And much more...

Special Guest: Juana Castanheira.

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Episode 214: Jon Atack Dec 17, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Jon Atack and I discuss:

How he got involved in Scientology
What training Scientologists get on recruitment
Why we don't train kids how to spot predators, narcissists, and psychopaths
What we should be teaching children
Why it seems like more people are joining cults
And more...

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Episode 213: Overcoming Cult Trauma With Psychedelics Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

Chelsea Lockwood, author of this Medium Piece Joins me to discuss her time in the Jehovah's Witnesses, leaving, and healing through Ayahuasca ceremonies.

In this episode, we discuss:

How aware children are made of the apocalyptic nature of the Jehovah's Witness beliefs
Corporal punishment in the Jehovah's Witnesses
What types of abuse she was privy to while a member
What it's like to be a child with extreme panic attacks
How she discovered Ayahuasca
What psychedelics have taught her about her life experiences
And much more...

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Episode 212: Abusive Relationships with Donna Anderson Dec 03, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, we discuss:

How to identify a problematic partner
How sociopaths target and manipulate partners
Why love bombing is important to both cults and abusive partners
Whether we're as good at identifying liars as we thing
The similarities between cult leader behaviours and abusive partner behaviours
How to get out of a bad relationship
And more...

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Episode 211: New Kadampa Tradition Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

Dr Michelle Haslam (https://newkadampatraditionreport.org) Joins me to discuss how she was seduced by the idea of living in a peaceful intentional community, only to find out the group's main focus was expansion and encouraging cruelty.

In this episode, we discuss:

Who is (Was?) Kelsang Gyatso
The differences between New Kadampa Tradition and mainline Buddhism
The hypocritical belief system
What it's like to live on site
Why some say NKT encourages sadistic behaviour
How NKT is like NXIVM and Scientology
And more...

Special Guest: Dr. Michelle Haslam.

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Episode 210: The Work Nov 19, 2019

Show notes

In this episode we discuss:

How the group was not prepared for kids attending outside schools
What kind of weekly schedule the members had
How the group handled questions about the doctrine
How Brother Julius disciplined followers
How the group was at the mercy of Brother Julius' whims
How Sarah got through it with the help of parties and teenage rebellion
And more...

Special Guest: Sarah Ficca.

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Episode 209: Tony Ortega Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

Tony Ortega Joins me for an extra long episode to discuss what it's like covering a group like Scientology for so long. In this episode, we discuss:

Why the Scientology/Nation of Islam alliance isn't so unusual
What kinds of retaliations the Church has made against him and those closest to him
What we know about the FBI's Trafficking case against the Church
Why the media was reticent to report on the Danny Masterson allegations
Are there still people in "The Hole?"
Where is Shelly Miscavige?
And much more...

Special Guest: Tony Ortega.

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Episode 208: Transcendental Meditation (TM) Nov 05, 2019

Show notes

Aryeh Siegel was a member of Transcendental Meditation in the 1970s and early 1980s. In this episode, we discuss:

Why TM hides its religious origins
Why TM fought in court to not have a translation of the Puja made public
What the science is on the TM technique
How TM leverages celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah, and Ellen.
Why TM is making a big push for schools in low income districts
Whether you can be physically harmed doing TM
And much more...

TM Deception Website

Movie- David Wants To Fly

Special Guest: Aryeh Siegel.

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