This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amber Scorah, a former Jehovah’s Witness who has an amazing story of actually working as an underground missionary in China to spread the faith before realizing she was herself living under an authoritarian control system. She’s since been on The Daily Show and has done a TED Talk on cultic influences. We talk about her experiences but also found a lot of shared experiences between our two cult experiences. Enjoy!
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Merry Christmas everyone – this is a Special Bonus Podcast for Christmas featuring Seth Andrews, one of my favorite guests and host of the Thinking Atheist podcast. In this episode, we discuss humanism, kindness and compassion and how we have hit and missed on achieving these in the past years and what our goals are for this new year coming to spread a message of humanism. Enjoy!
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This week I am joined once again by Jon Atack, author and historian, to discuss the topic of brainwashing. We dive deep into the various ways academics and cult leaders have tried to “debunk” that brainwashing or mind control are even legitimate topics of discussion and we discuss how brainwashing has been used effectively by many governments and cult groups to control their members. And while this topic alone is fascinating, we also spend a good chunk of the middle of the podcast talking Scientology specifically and Jon sets me straight on some very interesting Church history and the role L. Ron Hubbard’s wife and son played in the church’s development. I am quite sure you are not going to want to miss any of this podcast. Enjoy!
Links:
Jon’s YouTube channel
Open Minds Foundation
Jesuit Training Manual
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This week I have guest Louis Martin, author of True Believers, to discuss his experiences with a West Coast martial arts cult he spent several years in before realizing what was going on. In this extensive talk, we cover all the details and do a bit of compare and contrast with Scientology beliefs and practices along the way. Enjoy!
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This week it is the return of the Three Apostates, this time taking on the subject of religious indoctrination of children. As you can imagine, we have quite a bit to say about this and wax hot and cold as we reflect on the difficulties of reporting on this kind of thing and why it is so important for people to know about.
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This week I am joined by Andey Fellowes for a very in-depth and detailed discussion of his journey into, through and out of the cult of Teal Swan, a New Age spiritual guru who claims to be in direct touch with God and speaks for Him, among many other wild claims. Andey and I do a bit of compare/contrast between what he learned under Swan and what I learned in Scientology. If you have been wondering if Teal Swan’s “Teal Tribe” was some kind of cult, we answer that here. Enjoy!
Andey’s Channel
BITE Model Analysis
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This week I am joined by Steve Hassan, cult expert and recovery counselor and author the new book, The Cult of Trump. We discuss in detail why he is using the world “cult” in this context, what some of the thought reform techniques are that Trump uses and how his enablers are part of creating this situation.
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This week I am joined by Andrew Seidel, lawyer at the Freedom from Religion Foundation and author of The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationailsm is Unamerican. He and I discuss common misconceptions and arguments on this topic and go deep on where these ideas come from. Enjoy!
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