CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/1/2025

[Patrick Ryan]

Christian Science,  Commander Butcher, OneTaste

TC: What Is Christian Science? Origins and Core Beliefs

Christian Science originated in the 19th-century American context. The denomination attributes its origin to a female founder and focuses on healing.

"Mary Baker was born on July 16, 1821, in Bow, New Hampshire. Her family were devout Congregationalists, which means that they believed in Calvinism. From a young age, Mary struggled with the doctrine of predestination and eternal damnation. Though she was baptized into Congregationalism, she never accepted all of its teachings.

 

She was a sickly child but bright and inquisitive. Her health issues likely played a significant role in the development of her later religious views. The death of her first husband, George Washington Glover, from yellow fever six months after their marriage, added to the emotional struggles of the life of the pregnant 22-year-old woman.

 

She was unable to provide or care for her son due to her fragile health. Her family sent her son to stay with the childless Cheney couple in North Groton.

Mary remarried in 1853. Her husband, Daniel Patterson, was a traveling dentist who promised to care for her and her son. Instead, he and her family, without her knowledge, agreed that the family caring for her son, Georgie, could take him with them when they moved to the Mid-Western frontier.

 

Patterson was away from home for extended periods, and during this time, Mary’s views on Christian Science developed, adding additional strain to the relationship. He would later desert her, and they divorced in 1873, partly due to his infidelity.

 

Mary began studying all manners of cures and healing, from homeopathy to water cures and any medicine that would prove effective. In Lynn, Massachusetts, in February of 1866, she slipped on ice and fell, suffering severe internal injuries that her friends feared would be fatal. In a critical condition, she was bedridden and asked for a Bible to read. She read from Matthew 9:2, which says: 'And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.'"

" ... Christian Scientists believe in God as a Divine Principle. They do not think of God in anthropomorphic terms but rather as an all-encompassing divine presence, also called Truth, Love, and Mind. They do not regard Jesus as God but view him as one who demonstrated God’s love and healing power. As such, he was the example or expression of the love, power, and mind of God. Members often refer to God as the Divine Mind. The better a member understands God and aligns with him in thought, the greater the effect on the physical and spiritual well-being of the person.

 

Their doctrine teaches that all suffering and illness come from incorrect thought. The way to correct the error is to rightly interpret God. They teach that the physical realm is not reality but rather an illusion, while the spiritual is both real and eternal. This view results in Christian Science interpreting sin, disease, and death as misinterpretations of spiritual truths.

 

The result is that they are skeptical of medical interventions and the use of medicinal drugs, though they do not prohibit medical treatment for their members. They do not officially oppose vaccinations but doubt their efficacy as part of their doctrine that illness is not real but rather an illusion of the material world. In the past, they have complied with governmentally required vaccinations during public health crises."

Los Angeles Magazine: Santa Plot to Poison Jewish Children: ‘Maniac Murder Cult’ Leader Pleads Guilty in Hate-Fueled Terror Case

A self-described cult leader who called himself “Commander Butcher” has pleaded guilty to federal charges alleging he solicited bombings, school shootings, and hate motivated violence across the country.

"The leader of an online international extremist group known as the “Maniac Murder Cult” pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to two felony counts stemming from a series of violent plots targeting schools, religious institutions and minority communities, from 2022-2024, federal prosecutors said. Michail Chkhikvishvili, 23, looked down at the ground as he made his way into the Brooklyn courtroom shackled, wearing tan prison garb, black-rimmed glasses, and sporting a shaved head.

Chkhikvishvili, who used aliases including “Commander Butcher,” entered his change of plea before US Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon in the Eastern District of New York. The hearing drew a large turnout from members of Brooklyn’s Jewish community, who wanted to express their concern and put added pressure on federal authorities in cases involving antisemitic violence. Chkhikvishvili was previously extradited from Moldova following his 2024 arrest."

LA Times: A California sex ‘cult’ became a Netflix hit. This new book unpacks even darker secrets

"Even at its most promising, well-publicized peak, the San Francisco-based company OneTaste wasn’t exactly a G-rated enterprise. Its principal activity involved the clitoral stroking of partially nude women — in most cases by entirely clothed men, often in groups or before a paying audience.

OneTaste gave the practice, designed to occur in 15-minute increments, an inviting, wellness-focused name: orgasmic meditation, or OM (pronounced “ohm,” like the yoga mantra). The company’s charismatic founder, Nicole Daedone, borrowed the technique from other cult-like groups. But she branded and marketed it with gusto, spawning media accolades, celebrity acolytes, controversy — and a recent federal conviction for forced-labor conspiracy.

The emphasis on female sexual pleasure was, at least arguably, progressive, even if the voyeurism involved always seemed suspect. But, as Bloomberg News reporter Ellen Huet details in her riveting and intimate book, “Empire of Orgasm,” far darker activities were afoot behind the scenes. Huet describes a community where leaders played damaging psychological games, promiscuity and conformity were celebrated, and members were pressured to use sex to please an important investor and sell expensive OneTaste classes to recruits.

Huet’s groundbreaking 2018 investigative reporting for Bloomberg Businessweek revealed the exploitative aspects of OneTaste. A 2022 Netflix documentary, Sarah Gibson’s “Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste,” leans on Huet’s commentary, as well as painful testimonials from former members."

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