CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/26/2025

[Patrick Ryan]

Jim Jones, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Meditation

The Mercury News: New book uncovers the story behind infamous Bay Area cult

"Decades before Charles Manson’s followers spread terror in Los Angeles and Jim Jones orchestrated mass suicide in Guyana, a bearded mystic named Thomas Lake Harris preached salvation in the hills above Santa Rosa.

He claimed to speak with spirits, rewrote the Bible and battled demons in trances. His followers gave him their money — sometimes a great deal more. What began as a utopian experiment called Fountaingrove ended in scandal and headlines about “spiritual harems” and mind control.

In a new book, “Unholy Sensations: A Story of Sex, Scandal and California’s First Cult Scare” (Oxford University Press, 2025), historian Joshua Paddison revisits Harris’ rise and fall. It is a sensational tale of faith, fraud and forbidden desire that captivated 19th-century America, with themes that still resonate today.

Sonoma County

Paddison, a history instructor at Texas State University, situates Harris within the context of a 19th-century spiritual awakening, an era marked by a search for meaning beyond the industrial age, during which utopian communities emerged across the country.

Born in 1823 in the village of Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England, Harris came to the United States when he was five years old. His solidly middle-class family settled in Utica, New York, where his father was a grocer and devout Calvinistic Baptist. His mother died when he was nine.

Harris said he experienced an “overflowing” love of Christ at 15, when he attended a revival meeting. He began his public life as a Unitarian minister in New York around 1845. But his path soon veered into the realm of spiritualism. Claiming the ability to serve as a medium, he drew inspiration from the teachings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, whose writings sparked a lifelong fascination with the spirit world."

BBC: Sex abuse cult leader's move to open prison blocked

"A sex-cult leader who brainwashed and abused children will not be transferred to an open prison despite a parole board's recommendation.

Colin Batley was jailed in 2011 after being found guilty of 35 offences relating to being a molester and rapist of children and young people for more than 30 years.

In March, a parole board decided it would recommend Batley be moved to an open prison after a hearing found he had shown an "improved level of insight into his offending behaviour".

However, the final decision had to be made by the justice secretary, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirming it had "blocked" Batley's transfer to an open prison.

Batley moved from London to Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, where the cult operated in a cul-de-sac, Clos yr Onnen.

Cult members who all lived there took part in a catalogue of abuse against children and young adults, with victims saying the group used occult writings and practices to "brainwash" them and justify their abuse."

Science Alert: Meditation And Mindfulness Have a Dark Side We Don't Often Talk About

" ... The Dharmatrāta Meditation Scripture, written by a community of Buddhists, describes various practices and includes reports of symptoms of depression and anxiety that can occur after meditation.

It also details cognitive anomalies associated with episodes of psychosis, dissociation, and depersonalisation (when people feel the world is "unreal").

In the past eight years there has been a surge of scientific research in this area. These studies show that adverse effects are not rare.

A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects which had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month.

According to a review of over 40 years of research that was published in 2020, the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalisation, and fear or terror.

Research also found that adverse effects can happen to people without previous mental health problems, to those who have only had a moderate exposure to meditation and they can lead to long-lasting symptoms.

The western world has also had evidence about these adverse effects for a long time.

In 1976, Arnold Lazarus, a key figure in the cognitive-behavioural science movement, said that meditation, when used indiscriminately, could induce 'serious psychiatric problems such as depression, agitation, and even schizophrenic decompensation'."

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