CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/16/2024
Patrick Ryan
"This study collected quantifiable data on the characteristics, health, and well-being of individuals who left or were expelled from a fundamentalist Christian faith community in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey. Results: This study assessed a sample of former Jehovah’s Witnesses (N = 424, Mage = 42.14, SDage = 12.57, 65% female). Most participants (66%) were born into this faith community. Half the sample left voluntarily, 21% were expelled, and 31% left due to having experienced abuse or maltreatment. One third reported suicidal thoughts; 10% had attempted suicide. The sample (especially women) reported relatively high levels of child maltreatment, moderate current health, clinically significant symptoms, high levels of stress, and low quality of life. Participants who left due to abuse or maltreatment reported more symptoms and child maltreatment. Discussion: Women and survivors of child maltreatment may represent particularly vulnerable sub-groups of former Jehovah’s Witnesses."
Ben Woodbury, who has since come out as gay, never felt safe at school. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Exclusive Brethren.
"Students in need of psychological support at schools set up by the Exclusive Brethren sect cannot access external counselling services without getting approval from up to a dozen members of the school and church community, according to multiple former staff members.
The school says the approval process is to ensure that students “are provided with the right type of school-funded support for their individual needs”.
But former teachers and students of the Brethren’s OneSchool Global network – which operates 31 campuses in Australia, teaching 2,500 students – say the new policy undermines confidentiality for students struggling with mental health problems at the school who need help."
Nippon: Unification Church in Tough Position 2 Yrs after Abe
"-As Monday marks the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Unification Church finds itself in a difficult position as the incident shed light on the religious group's controversial practices, such as collecting massive donations from its followers.
The controversy was fueled by media reports that the shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, 43, cited his personal grudge against the Unification Church as a motive for the attack. He reportedly believed Abe had ties with the group, to which his mother is said to have donated at least 100 million yen.
Since November 2022, the culture ministry has repeatedly exercised its right to have the group respond to its inquiries. And in October last year, the ministry asked Tokyo District Court to issue an order to dissolve the group, alleging violations of the Civil Code."
The Telegraph: Young barman ‘beaten’ to death after Ayahuasca ceremony in Venice
"A barman was found “beaten” to death in Venice after taking part in an Ayahuasca ceremony in a deconsecrated abbey.Alex Marangon was likely murdered while attending the shamanic ritual before his body was dumped in the river Piave, Italian prosecutors said.
Mr Marangon, a 25-year-old barman from a small town north of Venice, disappeared from the Santa Bona di Vidor abbey near Treviso after reportedly drinking hallucinogenic tea made from the South American plant.
Count Giulio De Sacco, owner of the ex-monastery, said he was shocked and devastated by the man’s death which occurred during an event billed as a healing ritual to celebrate Sol de Putumayo.
Mr Marangon was last seen around 3am on July 30 by at least two other people at the event who said they saw him running barefoot into the wooded abbey gardens.
He was reported missing around 6am after failing to return to his room where he had left belongings including his mobile phone.
Mr Marangon’s body was found three days later on a sandy inlet a few kilometres downstream of the Piave river. However, an autopsy did not detect water in his lungs, suggesting he had not drowned.
Wounds found on the body indicated that the young man had actually been beaten with a blunt object, according to Treviso prosecutor Marco Martani.
The injuries included a skull fracture and broken ribs which had caused internal bleeding to the chest area, but the fatal blow was one to the head.
On Sunday, police and prosecutors intensified their questioning of the attendees at the shamanic ritual as Mr Marangon’s family grew impatient with the reluctance of authorities to divulge information.
Among the 20 people cooperating with the police were Andrea Gorgi Zuin and Tatiana Marchetto, known as “Zu and Tati” of Zu Music, who specialise in spiritual music with frequencies of 432hz. They are not considered suspects by police.
Prosecutors were also awaiting toxicology reports to determine exactly what substances were in Mr Marangon’s blood.
Witnesses reported that he drank Ayahuasca, a psychoactive beverage traditionally used by South American indigenous cultures and folk healers in the Amazon basins.
The decoction, which is illegal in Italy, is made from the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and leaves of the psychotria viridis shrub.
Friends said Mr Marangon had confided that he was anxious about going through the shamanic ritual again on the second night.
Investigators were also looking into whether he had ingested Kambo, a waxy poison scraped from the skin of the South American giant monkey frog.
The hallucinogenic substance is typically applied to freshly burnt holes in the skin during ceremonies designed to cleanse the body and mind of negative energy."
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