Defenders of The Faith: Cult Apologists

[Peter Daley]

This is certainly a topic that fascinates me more that most cult-related topics, and I have had some brief encounters with almost all of the individuals mentioned below. And it is also an issue that I was largely ignorant of for the first ten or so years of this interest of mine.

In those earlier days, I hadn't encountered people who actively defended more than one cult. There were certainly a few instances here and there of people defending a cult front group they had encountered with no knowldge of the cult behind it. But people who activly support numerous cults, well that is something I came to quite late. Their modus operandi will I hope be clear when I am satisfied with this thread.

First to Aum Shinrikyô - after a few detours, and to what I consider to be the biggest public failure of the apologist angle and still a very good representation of the field today. James Lewis, mentioned towards the end of the first article/link about Aum, attended my presentation at the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) 2016 conference. I just found and read for the first time CESNUR founder Massimo Introvogne's reflections on the conference, which brought back some fond memories of the three day-conference, and a brief mention of my presentation, which came as a pleasant surprise.

July, 2016: CESNUR 2016 Conference in Korea: An Overview (Massimo Introvigne)

Peter Daley, an investigative journalist who has cooperated with the Australian anti-cult movement, presented the story of some Korean groups, with which he has crossed swords whose leaders went to jail for serious crimes and later resurfaced in the West (in Australia and Great Britain) by simply changing the names of their movements.

Well, there was more to my presentation that that, but that was certainly a part of it: The effective use of front groups internationally to hide ties to the parent cult and the criminal convictions in Korea of its leaders.

I am mischaracterized as an "investigative journalist", but I certainly wish I were! In reality, I really just consider myself a hobbyist who sometimes gets a bit carried away. Having said that, I have written some investigative-style pieces. Here's one from my earlyish days - some five years after this topic grabbed me:

April 26, 2007: End of the World Predicted at Meditation Lecture (The Keimyung Gazette -it's still online 19 years later, god bless them!)

Skimming it now for the first time in a long time, here are my two favorite bits, and I remember it felt strange (and a little journalistic) to use "The Gazette" instead of "I".

The Gazette contacted an archivist at the University of Texas Archives who replied, "I have searched the likely places and found no mention of the experiments performed on Dadi Janki in 1978. Indeed, I didn't even find any University of Texas organization called the Medical and Science Research Institute." Despite evidence that the institute that ran those experiments never existed, Dadi Janki recently described to the Indian news site www.tribuneindia.com the experiments carried out on her and repeated the claim that University of Texas scientists declared her mind the most stable in the world. ...

The Gazette hoped to interview Professor Ryu to discuss the issues raised in this article, but after initially agreeing to be interviewed she changed her mind and said, "It is not worth my time to discuss this."

And while it's certainly true I cooperated with the "Australian ant-cult movement", I would word it differently: I assisted journalists in their investigations and cooperated with groups that seek to raise awarenss of cults and assist victims, primarily the Cult Information and Family Support (CIFS). And it's interesting to note that Massimo is of the persuasion that the word "cult" should never be used and replaced with the neutral "New Religious Movement". Despite hoping for the demise of that word, he uses it quite a lot when describing critics of cults. "Anti-cultist" feels to me like it is meant as a slur. I think that will become clear if you explore his work more deeply. I feel my stance is more "Pro-education and awareness". If I were to use the word anti, I would attach it to some of the more neferious cult practices: rape, economic exploitation, deception, corruption, etc. When applied to those words, any negative connotation disappears. Still, overall, it was a nice surprise to read Massimo's comments about my presentation.

[Peter Daley]

Now, finally, to the topic at hand, and these first posts about apologist scholars and Aum Shinrikyo is relevant today as - minus the gassing of course, Aum's reaction and efforts to scream "persecution" and counter negative press are similar to the Unification Church's recent efforts to counter the investigations into them in Japan and Korea.

Scholarship, Aum Shinrikyô, and Academic Integrity (Ian Reader - Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April 2000), pp. 368-382)

In a volume about the criminal activities of the Japanese new religious movement (NRM) Aum Shinrikyô, the Japanese lawyer and social activist Takimoto Tarô expressed his contempt for the conduct of scholars of religion during the Aum affair by putting the Japanese word shûkyôgakusha ("scholar of religion") in quotation marks to suggest that this was a misnomer rather than a valid title or profession. Moreover, he asserted that such scholars had operated as a "support team" for Aum Shinrikyô in its activities. Takimoto's criticisms were directed most particularly at Shimada Hiromi and Nakazawa Shin'ichi, two Japanese scholars of religion who had made positive statements about Aum prior to the Tokyo subway attack of March 1995 that brought Aum to international notice. They had, Takimoto claimed, failed to produce an accurate analysis (by which Takimoto meant a critical and condemnatory account) of the movement. Instead they had whitewashed it, thereby contributing to Aum's criminality and subjecting many people in Aum to what Takimoto called "mind control." It was not only Japanese scholars of religion who came under fire, however, for although Takimoto did not state it in so many words, the activities of a group of scholars who visited Japan from the U.S. soon after the subway attack also received immense criticism in Japan. ...

Aum Shinrikyô had, for a number of years prior to March 1995, received very critical press coverage in Japan. It had been widely accused of civil rights violations and infringements of Japanese law, and was suspected of involvement in the disappearance of noted opponents of the movement. Although all these charges have subsequently proven to be accurate, the movement adamantly denied them, aggressively dismissing any accusation against it as religious persecution and as the product of a corrupt media.

In its counter-offensive against the media, Aum gained the support of academics as well as public personalities. Asahara gave interviews to a small number of Japanese scholars and television personalities in the early 1990s, winning them over with his charm and impressing them with the strength of his convictions and the dedication of his followers. The fact that Aum's followers engaged in strict ascetic disciplines of a level rarely found in modern Japan impressed some observers and convinced them that Aum was a benign and sincere religious movement. As a result, Aum was able to use the supportive comments of scholars such as Nakazawa Shin'ichi, a specialist in Tibetan Buddhism who had met Asahara on occasion, to counteract critical media reports.

After the sarin attack, Shimada appeared on television programs discussing the Aum affair and was widely criticized as a defender of the movement. Eventually, he came under pressure from his own university and was forced to resign his position. Shimada has since responded to these criticisms by admitting some errors of judgment, criticizing other scholars in Japan for their failures in the affair, and claiming that he had been deceived by Aum and hence was something of a victim himself.

The apparent complicity, at least in the public mind, of Shimada and Nakazawa with Aum was damaging to the general reputation of scholars of religion in Japan. This problem was further compounded when two scholars of NRMs, accompanied by a scientist and a human rights lawyer—all four American—visited Japan in April 1995 at Aum's invitation and expense. At the time, Aum was protesting the charges leveled against it and claiming this was yet another part of a massive conspiracy against the movement that involved the Japanese and U.S. governments, the Japanese Imperial family, the Freemasons, the Jews, and numerous other groups and individuals.

Besieged by the authorities and with hundreds of its members being arrested and held without charge, Aum appealed for help to the Association of World Academics for Religious Education (AWARE), an American organization established "to serve as a kind of religious Amnesty International." AWARE's founder, James R. Lewis, was one of the group that visited Japan under the association's auspices. The visit was well-intentioned, and the participants were genuinely concerned about possible violations of civil rights in the wake of the extensive police investigations and detentions of followers. At the time, while there was widespread public certainty about Aum's guilt in the subway attack and other crimes, there was no absolute proof, and Aum's vociferous protestations of innocence might have suggested to an outsider that it had been set up. The visit, however, had the unfortunate effect of simply reinforcing the publicview that scholars of religion were naïve support teams for dangerous religious groups.

More about James Lewis and another American academic, J. Gordon Melton, who also attended the CESNUR conference I attended. I had more interactions with Melton both during and after the conference, and I found him to be a very intelligent and thoughtful academic. There is an interesting story related to the presentation he gave at the conference which I will explore later. He certainly took a small sip of the Aum Kool-Aid, but thankfully, he spat it out quite quickly. From his wiki page:

In the press conferences, Fisher and Lewis announced that Aum could not have produced the sarin with which the attacks had been committed. They had determined this with their technical expert, Lewis said, based on photos and documents provided by the group. British scholar of Japanese religions Ian Reader, in a detailed account of the incident, reported that Melton "had few doubts by the end of his visit to Japan of Aum's complicity" and eventually "concluded that Aum had in fact been involved in the attack and other crimes"; The Washington Post account of the final press conference mentioned Lewis and Fisher but not Melton.

May 5, 1995: Tokyo Cult Finds an Unlikely Supporter (The Washington Post/kelebekler.com)

As new evidence seems to implicate the secretive Aum Shinrikyo in case of terrorism, murder and kidnapping the sect's leaders have found an unlikely supporter: an officer of the American Bar Association.

Barry Fisher, a lawyer in Los Angeles who said he is chairman of the bar association's subcommittee on religious freedom, traveled to Tokyo with three other Americans [including J. Gordon Melton] - Aum paid the bill - to warn that the Japanese police were threatening the group's religious freedom.

The Americans said Monday that they spent three days in Japan talking to cult officials and others, but were not permitted to visit the sect's chemical factories or its headquarters campus. ...

One of the Americans, James Lewis, told a hostile and evidently incredulous roomful of Japanese reporters gathered at an Aum office Monday that the cult could not have produced the rare poison gas, sarin, used in both murder cases. He said the Americans had determined this from photos and documents provided by Aum. ...

Mr. Lewis said it was "outrageous" that some children had been removed by the police from an Aum dormitory where they were housed apart from their parents. He also said he was not familiar with details of how the children were treated at the cult.

The children of Aum members have said they were permitted two meals a day and four hours of sleep a night. They did not go to school, were not permitted to contact friends or relatives who were not cult members and were not permitted to play outside because the cult's leader said his enemies were attacking the group with poison gas.

Those last two paragraphs are certainly consistent with my impression of James based on a brief meeting and the question he asked me at the end of my presentation which quite frankly left me speechless.

May 6, 1995: Alleged Persecution of Cult Investigated: US Activists Visit Tokyo (The LA Times/Internet Archive)

In extensive raids, police have seized more than 1,000 drums of toxic chemicals and petroleum, scoured the group's laboratory facilities and examined cartons of documents--seizing evidence which they say proves that the group made sarin, a Nazi nerve gas suspected in the attack, according to Japanese press reports.

More than 150 people have been arrested on unrelated charges, such as trespassing and possessing expired car registrations. Authorities have removed numerous sect children from their families, saying their welfare was endangered. Japanese officials have announced that they will seek to remove Supreme Truth's status as a religious entity, which has given them special protections and tax benefits.

Fisher said scandals taint religious groups worldwide, "but that didn't bring about a government calling for an end to a religion, and that is precisely what is being done here. There seems to be no one rallying to protect innocent individuals."

Defending Aum was not the first time James expressed complete ignorance of a subject he claimed expertise in.

June 2, 1993: 'The Family' and Final Harvest (The Washington Post)

At least one outside observer -- James R. Lewis, a senior research associate at the Institute for the Study of American Religions in Santa Barbara, Calif. -- also questions the charge of child sex abuse. After visiting the La Habra Heights commune, he said, "I just came away feeling if there ever was any abuse it wasn't condoned or promoted by the hierarchy. It was isolated."

June 27, 2018: Children of God cult was 'Hell on Earth'(The Guardian)

Verity Carter says growing up in a secretive cult that encouraged sexual contact between adults and children was "hell on earth". The 38-year-old says she was abused from the age of four (circa 1984) by members of the Children of God cult, including her own father.

Alexander Watt was convicted in February after admitting four charges of sexually abusing Verity and another child in Renfrewshire and on the east coast of Scotland in the 1980s.

Verity told BBC Scotland's Kaye Adams Programme: "He wasn't the only one who did things to me when I was growing up. I had much worse done to me by many others. There was a bit of closure in him getting a conviction but at the same time it felt like I wanted more."

She said she hoped her father's conviction would encourage others to come forward to expose the actions of the cult in Scotland.

The Children of God began in the United States in the late 1960s.Its founder, David Berg, told members that God was love and love was sex, so there should be no limits, regardless of age or relationship. "It actively encouraged sexual activities among minors as young as two or three years old," Verity says.

[Peter Daley]

Cult Apologists/Cult Defenders (Apologetics Index)

I can't find a date for this next link, I'm guestimating sometime in the late 1980s or 90s:
   
T.F.P.'s Reaction: The Invention of the "Anti-Cult Conspiracy" (Miguel Martinez/Kelebekler.com)

July 1998: Blind, or Just Don't Want to See? / "Brainwashing", Mystification & Suspicion (Alberto Amitrani e Raffaella Di Marzio, from the roman seat of G.R.I.S.) 

Regarding the phrase in the above title "Blind, or just don't want to see", I'm reminded of some phrases that have come to mind in the past when reading about cult apologists: "eyes wide shut with their heads in sand"

Note to self: Among the references in the above is: Michael D. Langone. (add details of meeting him and book cover)

1998: When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)

(Undated): Lawyer Massimo Introvigne Whines About My Professional Fees (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)

April 11, 2018: A New Academic Book Takes Apart Scientology & Pop Culture, & The Apologists Hate It (Tony Ortega - The Underground Bunker)

A lot of mentions of Massimo in the above piece. Here's a quote, but please explore the article for further context and details. And that goes for all the articles I quote in this thread and others.

And our favorite example of Introvigne being either dishonest or clueless (or both) was this passage when he slams Susan Raine's chapter on the connections between Hubbard's science fiction and Scientology....Well, that's pretty rich, since Introvigne apparently has no idea what he's talking about.

Dec. 4. 2000: Hurray!! Like the Germans, Massimo Introvigne Takes Me Seriously!! He Put Me on CESNUR's Website!! (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)

[Peter Daley]

2003: Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden (Dr Margaret Singer)

I was just browsing my copy which I read over 20 years ago. I was surprised to not only see this topic explored but that two people I met briefly a: Dr. Stephen A. Kent, who appears in an earlier section and in the following paragrapsh, Dr. Eileen Barker. It's certianly more interesting reading about people you have encountered as opposed to just names on a page. Although she is critisized below, she gets brownie points for attending my presentation at the 2014 ICSA Conference in Washington DC.

Co-opted Professionals: Academics

Some people committed to cultic groups become downright illogical in their support. For example, there is a small claque of social scientists who have become procult apologists. Some have been given trips to exotic places by large, wealthy cults; some fear revealing critical findings because certain cults have paid for research and underwritten trips to professional meetings.

For example, Eileen Barker, a London sociologist, wrote a book called The Making of a Moonie, in which she presented an idiosyncratic version of thought reform or brainwashing, apparently attempting to get readers to discredit the idea that thought reform could occur and to absolve the Moon organization of criticisms alleging deceptions in recruitment. This apologist stance left Barker hard pressed to handle the issues she was left with.

Initially, Barker alleges that Moonie (as she calls them) recruits join freely, but this leaves unaddressed the fact, which she also reports, that recruits are deceived by members not revealing that they are Moonies. Barker claims that this deception has no bearing on recruits' decisions to join. Most people, however, believe that true free choice has to be based on full information. Later, Barker remarks on "another form of deception ... a failure to disclose the true nature of the movement to potential members," saying that "some information is for members only.... Moonies are unlikely to present their guests with statements such as, Moon... lives in the lap of luxury, and has control over an enormous amount of money,' or The movement has been the subject of close scrutiny by several government agencies"... [The recruit] is unlikely to understand the amount of time that he will be expected to spend on fund-raising," and so on. Barker rationalizes this deception by saying that most religions work in this way, and she concludes that "it is probably true to say that the factual information Moonies give their guests is usually a fairly accurate account of what the overwhelming majority of members do themselves believe to be the truth."

In 1989, the Religious News Service carried a story that Dr. Barker's book was funded by the Unification Church, saying that Barker "freely admits that the Unification Church paid all her expenses to attend 18 conferences in Europe, New York, the Caribbean, Korea, and South America. 'My university and the SSRC (a U.K. government grants council) regarded this attendance necessary for my research, she said. They thought if the Moonies paid the bills it would be a big savings for the taxpayer."" Not everyone felt that way. One member of Parliament said, "Any academic who allows themselves to be manipulated to lend credence to a cult does harm to families all over the world."

On the one hand, a number of academics are unwilling to inspect the deceptive recruiting practices and membership policies of many cultic groups. On the other hand, they try to discredit researchers who do. They also shelter the cults by trying to discredit the reports of ex-members who try to tell the world what it was like to be in a cult. The apologists disparage these former mem-bers, calling them bitter apostates, disgruntled, defectors, disloyal, and turncoats.

For example, sociologists David Bromley and Anson Shupe published the book Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare, in which they blamed former cult members and their families for generating "hysteria" about cults, implying that these citizens were more dangerous than the cults themselves. Treating former cult members with utmost disdain, Bromley and Shupe throw demeaning labels at ex-members' first-person accounts, calling them "tales of atrocity that include lurid themes of exploitation, manipulation, and deception." They write that former members are merely publicity seekers wishing to stand in the limelight and profiteers looking to make money by writing books about their cult experiences. "In sum," write Bromley and Shupe, "apostates and the horrific stories they tell are necessary, to provide fuel to attack unpopular movements, but, more important, to absolve families (and them-selves) of any responsibility for their actions."

Cult apologists blame the victims and protect the villains. Like the mad kings of old, they shoot the messenger bearing bad news. One of the most illogical positions taken by the apologists is their claim that only current cult members tell the truth. However, the findings of many researchers, as well as my own numerous interviews with former members, show that cult members are so dependent on the group while they are in it that they dare not tell the truth, dare not complain.

Intimidation and Harassment of Critics:

From university professors and students to journalists, reporters, and writers, those who study cults have consistently come upon one particularly disturbing aspect of the cult world. It has become apparent over time that, when researchers are critical of certain cult activities or features, some of the groups attempt to suppress such findings and opinions and silence their critics through both subtle and overt intimidation in a variety of forms.

[Peter Daley]

March 6, 2020: How One Man's Epiphany on a Seoul Mountain in 1955 Laid the Foundation for Many Religious Sects in South Korea (CNN)

At its height, the Olive Tree movement had about 2 million members, according to Massimo Introvigne, a religious scholar and the founder of the Italy-based Center for Studies on New Religions. People joined in droves despite Park's growing list of controversies, including a brief stint in jail for embezzlement, said Introvigne, who in the past has defended new religious groups accused of wrongdoing.

August 13, 2020: The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 23: The Apologist Academics (Tony Ortega - The Underground Bunker)

But apologist academics can be a real pain for legitimate researchers who come under attack from these Scientology cheerleaders.

A good example that happened recently was the time and effort that the best academic in the business, Stephen Kent of the University of Alberta, had to spend cleaning up the mess created by a fake academic publication, CESNUR which stands for "pro-Scientology flapdoodle published in Italy for some reason."

CESNUR had got a lot of Hubbardists excited by claiming that critics of Scientology had never, ever produced evidence that L. Ron Hubbard had ever actually claimed, under his own signature, that he was the recipient of a civil engineering college degree. The notion that Hubbard had falsely claimed to be a college graduate was an impression created by sloppy researchers and some of Hubbard's own employees, CESNUR claimed.

Kent was attacked in the piece, and so he took it upon himself to produce a lengthy and thorough piece utterly destroying the CESNUR claim. In fact, this very website has published two letters written by Hubbard claiming to be a civil engineering graduate.

Anyway, that's just one example of how these apologist types not only muddy the record to benefit Scientology, but then create a lot of work for those of us trying to get out the truth about Hubbard and his creation.

Aug. 13, 2022: The Cult of Cult Apologists: Massimo Introvigne Part 1
Note: This is the best critique of cult apologists I have read. I'll just quote the one paragraph for a simple reason I explain below.

Cult apologist Dr. Eileen Barker, for example, had her "research" into the Unification Church paid for by the Unification Church. Indeed, Reverend Moon paid  her expenses paid to attend 18 conferences held by the Unification Church. This is a clear conflict of interest by any standard. It is no different than Big Tobacco paying scientists in the 1950's to write studies proving that cigarettes were not harmful. Dr. Barker wrote a letter of support for Reverend Sun Myung Moon when he was seeking to move to the UK. How is this not being a paid cult apologist? There is no academic distance whatsoever. Rather, there is direct personal involvement with, and support for, the cult leader from an NRM scholar.

I had been thinking of that very same cigarette company doctor analogy when someone I knew mentioned their understanding of "New Religious Movements" was solidified by Massimo. That person does have some connection to the UC, which may or may not have influenced their thinking. I'll let any interested reader explore the full article at its source, and as far as I know, a part 2 has not been published, but the writer is still active.

Jan. 2023: Cult Apologists, Rational Choice, & The Christian Right (Luigi Corvaglia, Ph. D of Psychology - Research Gate)

Jan. 2023: Greenwashing Cults. How Cult Apologists Poison Wells (Luigi Corvaglia, Ph. D of Psychology - Research Gate)

I found this quote really interesting as I recall chatting to someone recently who described Massimo as one of the most tolerant people they had ever met:

This choice of vocabulary evokes frames of absolutism and intolerance, which, as mentioned above, leads to the idea that the speaker embodies the opposite qualities of tolerance, democracy and genuine ecumenism. This creates a narrative in which scholars of manipulation and activists who oppose abuses in totalitarian groups are portrayed as intolerant people, opposed by the heroic figures of apologists under the banners of
freedom waving in the wind.

May 21, 2023: Solidarity With Japanese Ex-Moonies & Responce to Cult Apologists (Medium - Former American Member)

Sept. 25, 2024: The Spy Who Loved Me: CESNUR Betrayed by Pro-Russian Subversive Group (Luigi Corvaglia)

Aug. 24, 2025: Meet the Shadowy Scholars Supporting England's Doomsday Cult (The GuruMag - Be Scofield)

Dec. 11, 2025: Abuse in New Religious Movements (by Sarah Harvey/Cambridge University Press)

The sample pages on Amazon are fascinating, and offer an interesting history of the use of various terms assigned used to describe the darker side of religions.

Jan. 2026: The Prophet & The Pathologist: Stephen Kent, Massimo Introvigne, and the Battle for an Honest Study of Religion (Jonathon Simmons, Ph.D)

Religious apologists have a playbook for scholars who get too close to the truth. That playbook is a dog-eared, reliable little volume passed down through generations of believers who find the disinfectant of sunlight a bit too harsh for their tastes. My first thought after reading Massimo Introvigne's scathing review of a new book by Stephen Kent, whom I should note was my doctoral supervisor many years ago, was that this was just another case of an apologist attacking a skeptic. The pattern is predictable: dismiss challenging scholarship as reductive, invoke the specter of persecution, and wrap methodological objections in the language of intellectual sophistication.

[Peter Daley]

Some recent examples of cult apologism, most related to recent events in Korean and Japan.

Although there were a lot of signs at the CESNUR conference I attended that some were cult apologists, this was the first article I read by Massimo.

Oct. 26, 2022: Abe Assassination, Fake news & The 'Moonies' (Massimo Introvigne for The Asia Times)

On January 3, 2019, a teenager entered the premises of the Church of Scientology, of which his mother was a member, in Sydney, Australia, and fatally wounded a Scientologist with a knife. At trial, he was later recognized as not criminally responsible, as two experts pronounced him schizophrenic – but real paranoids have real enemies.

Although he had quarreled with his mother for different reasons, propaganda depicting Scientology as evil may also have excited his feeble mind. Anti-Scientologists told the media, without shedding a tear for the victim, that Scientology was to blame for having allegedly created hostility between mother and son.

While the idea of brainwashing and manipulation are scoffed at by Massimo  etc, any violence against a cult is explained away in terms like the above. Also note the use of the word evil and its purpose: the demonizing of critics. Massimo also explained James Lewis' defence of Aum in similar terms, and another dubious defence of a cult he has close relations with, China's Eastern Lightning.

More loaded langauge (hate campaigns/enemies) to describe critics of the UC and their actions:

What triggered Yamagami's killing frenzy in 2022, and not before? We know for a fact that Yamagami followed the hate campaigns against the Unification Church prevailing in Japan. He interacted on social media with fellow enemies of the Church.

The day before killing Abe, Yamagami wrote a letter to Kazuhiro Yonemoto. Although Yonemoto deserves credit for having opposed in the past the practice of kidnapping members of the Unification Church for the purposes of deprogramming or "de-converting" them, he remains an opponent of the Church. Yamagami interacted with the anti-Unification-Church milieu and was exposed to hate speech against the Church, which may easily have turned his weak head.

UC critics knew they were responsible and tried to hide fact? That is a feat of mind-reading and an allegation I have not seen repeated by unbiased reporters/media:

Yamagami hated the Church, and this hate was fueled by the hate speech of the anti-Unification-Church activists. To hide their responsibility, they blamed the Unification Church, which was clearly a victim, as if it were the perpetrator.

Another common tactic is "Innocent Until Proven Guilty and Innocent After Proven Guilty"

Aug. 15, 2022: Shincheonji: Korean Supreme Court Confirms Leader's Acquittal from COVID Charges (Massimo Introvigne  for Bitter Winter/Internet Archive)

In a country where accusations raised by prosecutors are accepted by judges in more than 90% of the cases, the result is remarkable. Prosecutors, however, can never totally lose in South Korea, and other charges were added against Chairman Lee. They concern episodes that had allegedly happened long before the COVID-19 crisis started, including mismanaging funds and holding events in facilities whose owners had canceled the corresponding rental agreements under pressure by opponents of Shincheonji.

I have explained elsewhere that these accusations did not make sense, but they served as a parachute for the prosecutors after their COVID case has collapsed. The Supreme Court confirmed for these alleged offenses a sentence of three years for Chairman Lee, suspended for five years. This means that the 91-year-old Chairman Lee will not go to jail for these charges unless he repeats the alleged offenses.

Everybody understands that the additional charges were thrown in to save the face of the prosecutors and the politicians who had backed them. The important point is that all the propaganda about Shincheonji as spreader of the COVID-19 virus has now been definitively exposed as a lie.

[Peter Daley]

I was just exploring Sarah Steel's most excellent podcast: "Let's Talk About Sects". I came across it just last night - March 30, 2026. I was immediately impressed with the quality and quantity of her guests, some of whom I have met or interacted with online at various times.

In deciding what podcast to listen to first, I chose Dr. Lalich's, and I has happy to discover that she talks about this very issue at the beginning of the podcast. She mentions Margaret Singer, whose book I quote above, the CESNUR organization - she also attended their conferences, and the background and history of how the issue of cult apologists came into being.

Oct. 26, 2022:: Janja Lalich Inteview (Let's Talk About Sects Podcast)

Dr Janja Lalich is a Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico. She has written multiple world-renowned books on cultic studies, and is soon to launch the non-profit Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion. Dr Lalich offers resources to help survivors of coercive groups, as well as courses for therapists and social workers to help them understand the issues involved in treatment. She was once a member of a cult herself, and rose to a leadership rank. She has spent her life since trying to use her experiences to assist others.

It is also interesting how apologists and journalists cover the same event. Some selected quotes from both sides, and links are provided for further reading/context:

Nov. 22: Sayuri Ogawa Confronts The UC - and Her Parents – During a Day of Drama at the FCCJ (Karyn Nishimura/Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan)

And on July 29, the president of the church's Japan branch, Tomohiro Tanaka, put up a stout defence of the body, leaving little time for questions from the FCCJ audience. But it was Sayuri Ogawa who taught us most about the church and its methods.

The 26-year-old is a so-called second-generation follower of the Unification church, the daughter of parents who were both members when she was born. Her mother got involved in the church at the age of 20 and later married a man at one of its infamous mass weddings. Ogawa, who goes by a pseudonym, was raised as a "child of god".

Ogawa, who left the church six years ago, is now happily married and has a young child. She had expected to lead a relatively normal life until Abe's assassination and its dramatic political fallout prompted her to go public with her experiences.

I first met her during a hearing with opposition Diet members in July. I was impressed by her detailed knowledge of the church and her willingness to discuss her parents and the toll their membership of the organization had taken on their family.

I later saw her make several TV appearances, and had no hesitation in accepting an offer to emcee her press conference at the FCCJ. ...

 "Since my childhood, no matter what my convictions, I was forced to obey the rules of the church and if I did not respect its instructions, they told me I would go to hell," she said. "I grew up in poverty. At school, I was mistreated because I looked poor. My parents insulted and abused my grandmother, who required nursing care. I also experienced sexual harassment by a church official. The contradictions I witnessed led me to be hospitalized for mental health reasons."

Ogawa also provided comments from other people who had suffered because their relatives were involved in the church. She described how the church functions in Japan, and how it works to ensure that huge amounts of money are sent to its headquarters in South Korea every month.

And then something incredible happened. About 50 minutes into her press conference, I was told that two faxes had arrived at the club. One, in Japanese, had been sent by a lawyer for the church; the other, in English, was from her parents. Both contained more or less the same message. Ogawa, they said, was suffering from "serious mental health disorders, including dissociative identity disorder" that had worsened since Abe's death. This, they continued, had prompted her to make inaccurate statements to the media. The messages warned that Ogawa was at risk of committing crimes such as defamation - hence their determination to silence her. They demanded an immediate end to the FCCJ press conference.

I was shocked by their words. I could not imagine why any parent would want to talk about their own daughter in this way. I never even considered bowing to their demands and halting the press conference. (I learned later that the faxes had been sent before the FCCJ event had started, but that they had not been noticed until later.)

As a journalist, I knew the press conference had to continue. But ultimately, that was not my decision – this was not only a question of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, but a serious personal matter on which only Ogawa could decide. She had been criticized and threatened not only by the church, but also by her own parents. Seated nearby, her very supportive husband offered to explain to the audience the contents of the faxes. I thought, though, that we also needed her agreement before he did so. After a short discussion, she agreed.

After Ogawa told me she would like to continue, I asked another question related to her experiences. By then in tears, she said: "If you believe that I am telling the truth, please dissolve the Unification church. That is all."

I generally try to remain neutral during press conferences, but this time I applauded Ogawa and her brave words. I was also impressed by her commitment - she had not only recounted her own experiences but had also gathered data and testimonials from other people affected by the Unification church.

Nov. 14, 2022: The Great Witch Hunt Against the UC in Japan 1: Bearing False Witness (Massimo Introvigne for Bitter Winter)

"Victims" tell their stories to politicians and the media. But their relatives claim (and prove) they are not true.

The witch hunt continues, supported by fake news and, as usual in these case, by apostate ex-members. Japanese media have reported that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself will meet with one such apostate, a woman who uses the pseudonym of "Sayuri Ogawa." She spoke against the Unification Church after the Abe assassination, including at a meeting organized by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on August 23 and at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on October 7, telling a story that in many point is demonstrably false....

In a nutshell, Ogawa claimed that she grew up in the Unification Church, in which her father served as a minister and her mother as a staff member, and suffered poverty because of their donations to the religious organization.

She was systematically bullied in school. She was also terrorized about sex by her puritanical parents, who broke with her when she decided to live with a man who was not a member of the Unification Church.

She attended events of the Unification Church, she said, both in Japan and Korea and, as a consequence of the absurdity of the doctrines she was exposed to and of the rituals, developed mental problems and had to be hospitalized. Her parents had confiscated the money she had made through her part-time work while she was a student, and took advantage of her hospitalization to withdraw what she had kept in a bank account. They used this money for further donating to the Unification Church. She is now persuaded that the Unification Church/FFWPU is an evil organization, she said. She called for its dissolution and for the introduction in Japan of an anti-cult law modeled on the one that exists in France.

The latter request proves that Ogawa is being coached by the anti-cult movement.

Her mother has never heard that she was bullied in school. The mother can prove she won awards and was sent to participate in national competitions for gifted students, which is hardly compatible with the picture of a marginalized and bullied pupil. The mother does admit that the daughter was taught about the ideal of remaining pure until marriage, but claims that it is not true that the parents broke with her after she decided to marry outside of the Unification Church. Photographs show both parents smiling and celebrating at her wedding. ...

I believe Ogawa, with her story of mental health problems, is only partially responsible for the falsehoods she has spread to the media. Much more responsible are those who take advantage of her condition and use her as a weapon in their campaigns against the Unification Church/FFWPU.

[Peter Daley]

Nov. 21, 2021: New Religious Movement Responses to COVID: Frame Alignment Strategies & Social Context (Benjamin Zeller/Research Gate)

This essay quotes Kim Do-hyun (a former member I met a few times when he was a member) from the CNN piece linked below that includes an embedded video. He's not just any former member, he was Lee Man-hee's translator and held senior roles given that proximity to Lee. As a member of a cult whose members lie and use deceptive practices to recruit, I found him to be the exception that proves the rule. I would take anything he says sans grains of salt.

Feb. 27, 2020: How Novel Coronavirus Spread Through the Shincheonji Religious Group in South Kore (CNN)

'The culture was, even though you're sick you come in on Sunday. If you're so sick you can't come Sunday, youhave to come on Monday or Tuesday– you have to make up for the time,'Kim says. He describes how, whenhe was a member, followers would siton the floor during hours-long ser-vices 'packed together like sardines'.(CNN)

Ex-members' accounts must be read with suspicion, and subjective claims such as being 'packed like sardines' reveal as much about anti-Shincheonji media bias as they do actual practices, but the pattern described here, even in its most basic claims, shows why Shincheonji norms were conducive to the spread of the virus.

I don't see why member accounts must be read with suspicion, especially in this case as what he describes as "packed together like sardines" is shown in the video. Not of course in the literal sense of bodies upon bodies, but it's pretty close to the human equivalent.

If anything should be read with suspicion - and a bowl of salt, it's this bolded quote from earlier in the piece:

Kim and Bang indicate that opponents have compared thegroup to the Islamic State, marking Shincheonji's totalistic vision of world transformation as inherently threatening to the social order. The scholar of new religions Massimo Introvigne argues that opposition to Shincheonji may be traced to a more mundane complaint: its rapid growth came at the expense of the more mainstream churches, which responded by demonizing the group and labelling it as a marginal religious movement.

[Peter Daley]

April 7, 2026: Religion & State Authority: What Happens When Religious Freedoms Clash With Child Safety? (ICSA Today)

A significant hurdle in prosecuting these cases is the tendency of some scholars and religious groups advocating to dismiss former members as "biased apostates." This classification often results in victim testimony being given less weight than the statements of group leaders. When reports of abuse are framed as attacks on religious freedom rather than human rights violations, the actual physical harm done to children is frequently downplayed or ignored.