CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/30/2025

[Patrick Ryan]

Conspiracy Theories, Erhard Seminars Training, Shakers

NPR: Alternate Realities: Double or Nothing (with Patrick Ryan)

As soon as Alternate Realities publishes, Zach Mack calls his dad to hear his reactions to the series. The conversation takes an unexpected turn, launching them into another year-long experiment.

The Times: ‘Father of self-help’ Werner Erhard, 90, accused of abusing staff

Two employees of the 1970s Hollywood guru, a multimillionaire who lives in London, claim he physically and verbally mistreated them.

"Werner Erhard was celebrated as the “father of self-help” and his teachings were hugely popular in Hollywood in the 1970s.

Celebrities including Yoko Ono, the singers Diana Ross and Cher, and the actor Jeff Bridges were devotees, as were symbols of counterculture activism such as Jerry Rubin and the British Olympic skating hero John Curry, who credited the movement with a change in his mindset that won him a gold medal in 1976.

Now Erhard, who lives in a £5 million flat overlooking the Houses of Parliament, is accused of physically and verbally abusing staff at his London-based company.

Court documents seen by The Times allege that Erhard hit, slapped and shook staff, pulled their hair and put his hands around their necks, “restricting their breathing”. He is also accused of using verbally abusive language.

He denies wrongdoing and has insisted that any physical contact with employees was to “get their attention, including placing his hands on their shoulders”, and “did not involve abuse”.

The self-help guru moved to London after his Erhard Seminars Training (EST) became dogged by allegations — including in an investigation by The Times in the early 1990s — that it was involved in mind control, was a “cult” and had fostered an abusive culture."

The Conversation: The celibate, dancing Shakers were once seen as a threat to society – 250 years later, they’re part of the sound of America

"Director Mona Fastvold’s new film, “The Testament of Ann Lee,” features actor Amanda Seyfried in the titular role: the English spiritual seeker who brought the Shaker movement to America. The trailer literally writhes with snakes intercut amid scenes of emotional turmoil, religious ecstasy, orderly and disorderly dancing – and sex. Intense and sometimes menacing music underpins it all: the sounds of the enraptured, singing their way to a fantastic and unimaginable ceremony.

The trailer is riveting and unsettling – just as the celibate Shakers were to the average observer during their American emergence in the 1780s.

I sit on the Board of Trustees of Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts, where some of the film was shot, though I have not seen the film, which is due to be released on Christmas Day. I was the curator at Hancock from 2001 to 2009 and have studied the Shakers for more than 25 years, publishing numerous books and articles on the sect.

Fascination with the Shakers is enduring, as are they. The sect once had several thousand members; today, three Shakers remain, practicing the faith at their village in Sabbathday Lake, Maine, as they have since 1783.

Many characteristics of Shaker life and belief set them apart from other Protestant Christians, but their name derives from one of the most obvious. Early Shakers manifested the holy spirit that they believed dwelled within them by shaking violently in worship. While they called themselves “Believers,” observers dubbed them “Shakers.” Members eventually adopted the name, although officially they are the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.

The Shakers developed unique worship practices in both music and dance that expressed their faith. Until the 1870s, Shaker music was monophonic, with a single melodic line sung in unison and without instrumental accompaniment. Many of their melodies, Shakers said, were given to them by spirits. Some of these charmed and haunting strains have permeated through broader American musical culture.

The Shakers first began to organize in Manchester, England, in 1747. By 1770, they came to believe that the spirit of Christ had returned through their leader, “Mother” Ann Lee. However, “Mother Ann was not Christ, nor did she claim to be,” the Shakers state. “She was simply the first of many Believers wholly embued by His spirit, wholly consumed by His love.”

In 1774, Lee led eight followers to North America, settling near what is now Albany, New York. As is still true today, Shakers held their property in common, following the model of the earliest Christians that is recorded in the Bible’s Book of Acts. At its height, the movement had 19 major communities.

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