This week, guest John Sweeney is on board. An active BBC journalist who took on the Church of Scientology in 2006 and faced off with the Church’s senior executives, and who has since been in North Korea, Russia and almost every country in the Middle East, discusses what these places are like, what kind of experiences he had and how these relate back to cult mechanics and attitudes.
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This week, second generation former Hare Krishna, Nitai Joseph, guests on my show to discuss growing up with Hindu beliefs and how this led to him joining a splinter group of the Hare Krishnas and how this affected his family and his life. I make comparisons between what he experienced and how Scientology acts towards its members too.
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I received an academic paper recently from Dr. Stephen Kent, sociologist from the University of Alberta and his research assistant, Terra Manca, published in 2012 about the conflict between Scientology and psychiatry. Published in the journal Mental Health, Religion and Culture, it was titled “A War Over Mental Health Professionalism: Scientology vs. Psychiatry.” This sparked a lot of thoughts on the war Scientology declared against psychiatry and in this podcast, I lay down some history and facts about all this.
My YouTube Mental Health series with Sunny Pereira
Tony Ortega article from February 2015
Tony Ortega article from May 2017
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This week, I did a live stream of my podcast from Philadelphia, where I am attending the International Cultic Studies Association’s annual conference. I was part of two presentations here and I discuss those and what cult “recovery” has meant for me personally.
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This week, I address the all-too-common language we are hearing these days about the need for violent uprisings and riots to combat the growing fascism of the Trump administration. Conversely we see similar calls on the Right and this is becoming ridiculous. I take this on and give some perspective on why now more than ever, we do need to be civil.
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This week, I talk about the phenomena of echo chambers, especially on social media and in the news, and how these are affecting us. I relate how echo chambers create mindsets that are very similar to what happens to people in destructive cults. I also get personal in this and talk about some recent events in my life that have got me thinking and re-thinking what “side” I’m on politically, what my values really are and how do I talk about and describe myself using labels that make sense.
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This week, my guest from the Open Minds Foundation, Jon Atack, and I dive deep into talking about cult education and recovery efforts in Europe and some of the need for historical perspective and understanding in fighting destructive cult behavior and biases. We covered some very important ground in this podcast and I look forward to hearing the feedback on it.
Link to my podcast with Robert Orell.
Link to Ira Chaleff’s book Intelligent Disobedience
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It’s another installment of the the Three Apostates! This week, I’m joined by former Jehovah’s Witness Lloyd Evans and former Mormon Jonathan Streeter to compare and contrast our past religion’s ideas about what happens after you die. We had a great time doing this podcast and we hope you have a great time listening.
Lloyd’s YouTube channel: https://goo.gl/xZNqAs
Jonathan’s YouTube channel: https://goo.gl/aiiUV9
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