CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/27/2026

[Patrick Ryan]

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gillie Jenkinson, School of Economic Science

AP: Jehovah’s Witnesses ease policy on transfusions, allowing storage and use of one’s own blood

"Leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses are modifying their prohibition on receiving blood transfusions on religious grounds, now allowing members to decide whether to allow their own blood to be drawn and stored in advance for such things as a scheduled surgery with a risk of significant blood loss.

But the organization is retaining its wider prohibition against receiving transfusions of others’ blood — a procedure routinely used with patients after accidents, violence or other blood loss. This long-held prohibition is one of the most distinctive and controversial teachings of the movement, which is headquartered in New York state and well-known for its assertive public proselytizing.

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses announced what it called a “clarification” of its teaching on Friday, saying the decision followed extensive prayer and consideration."

BBC: Why I love counselling cult survivors

"When Gillie Jenkinson was 18 years old and studying at secretarial college, a woman approached her with a promise: God's eternal love. Captivated by the idea, Gillie threw herself into the evangelical charismatic Christian movement and eventually into a radical offshoot she calls ‘The Community’.

Life inside was suffocating. Members surrendered all their money to the group, lived together under one roof, and obeyed their leader without question. Disobedience, or even the suspicion of ‘sin’, was met with physical punishment. Gillie herself was beaten with a bamboo cane. It was amid this brutality that she found an unexpected kindness in a new arrival named Tony.

After seven years of total devotion, Gillie saw The Community collapse. As it fell apart, Gillie confessed her love to Tony. They escaped together and married, but found themselves gravitating toward other churches she considered controlling. It would take another 14 years before they finally left.

Since then, Gillie has trained as a pastoral counsellor and earned a master's degree in Gestalt psychotherapy. After two residencies at the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, she decided to specialise in counselling cult survivors. She has also written a book, Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse."

WGTC: Child abuse allegations to accusations of ‘keeping people close through fear’ – the infamous ‘cult’ Hugh Jackman calls his ‘pillar’

"...GQ reports, Jackman has been a member of the School of Economic Science (SES), also known as the School of Practical Philosophy. In a 2010 interview with GQ Australia, he described it as the spiritual centre of his life: “The spiritual pillar for me has become the School of Practical Philosophy. I’m a regular attendee there and I suppose that has become my church.” He has said he attends classes every week, wherever he is in the world, and meditates twice a day as part of its teachings.

But the organisation Jackman calls his spiritual home has a deeply troubled past. Actress Emily Watson, who was raised in the SES by her parents, has spoken openly about what she witnessed. She said the organisation kept “people close through fear,” and described “extreme behaviour, cruelty and unpleasantness that was very damaging for some people.” Watson was eventually expelled from the organisation in 1996 after appearing in Breaking the Waves, a film the SES strongly disapproved of.

The SES founded a network of schools for children, the most well-known being the St James Independent Schools in London. A private inquiry set up by the school’s own governors in 2005 found that children had been “criminally assaulted” during the period between 1975 and 1985. Boys were punched, kicked, struck from behind, and hit with objects. The inquiry was blunt: “Whatever the provocation, nothing could justify this mistreatment. It was clearly unreasonable and criminal.”

In December 2020, nearly $1 million in compensation had been paid to dozens of former students. Around 45 former students who attended between 1975 and 1992 received payments of up to $30,000 each, all settled without any admission of liability. The label of “cult” is one the SES has always rejected, but it is a word that has followed the organisation for decades, and it is not the only group in recent years to face that kind of scrutiny."

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