It’s been a year since the first in-person peer support group for cult survivors in Christchurch started, supported by Decult. Happy birthday, Uncult Ōtautahi!
After binge-watching the latest Netflix hit over the weekend and then getting a legal update from a feisty activist friend overseas, I’m also celebrating the incredibly courageous women in the cultiverse and their tenacious fights for justice. They’re my heroes. Read about them and more in this issue:
- Full house at Beyond Belief event
- Powerful new documentaries
- Rapid Relief Team sues podcast
- Fundraising campaign for activists
NELSON HIGHLIGHT: HIKITIA! HUI
Initiating the event Beyond Belief: Understanding cult dynamics in Wakatū Nelson last month, showing the Decult Voices documentary at Fairfield House and speaking there on stage with Lindy Jacomb from the Olive Leaf Network, Willow Duffy from Safeguarding Children and Dr Kyle Eggleton (Associate Professor, GP and ex-2x2s) was an absolute highlight – and an honour.
The RISE/Hikitia! team with Willow Duffy, Anke Richter, Lindy Jacomb and Kyle Eggleton
Thanks to the excellent facilitation and support of the RISE/Hikitia! team, we had a full house with 70 attendees, personal presentations of lived experiences, and important kōrero. Their focus on sexual violence prevention aligns with our kaupapa of highlighting harm in high-control environments, where more women and children are at risk to be sexually assaulted than outside of cults. Bringing in survivor advocates to educate local social workers, therapists and other professionals felt like the perfect fit. New ideas emerged and connections formed.
For those who missed the first hui of its kind in the region: There will be a podcast recording of our panel discussion soon. Can’t wait for you to listen to it! And if you or your organisation would like to host a similar event for your community, then please get in touch.
I can’t stop thinking (and talking) about Trust Me: The False Prophet – a must-watch. The 4-part Netflix series reveals how American cult psychologist Dr Christine Marie and her partner bring a Mormon polygamist and child rapist to justice by immersing themselves into the local FLDS community with compassion and integrity. They become accidental sleuths when the local police fails to act – similar to other cults of late where media exposés brought to light what authorities had ignored.
While the often disturbing doco should come with a big trigger warning for exvangelical survivors of plural marriage and CSA (child sexual abuse), it is also deeply inspiring and moving. Christine Marie is a total bad ass and a true hero. We’re hoping to include her in the programme for the Decult 2026 conference, fingers crossed.
Speaking of bad asses: Also close to my heart is Children of the Cult, now on DocPlay and Apple+ after it was nominated for a BAFTA. Maroesja Perizonius, who grew up in a European ashram of notorious 80s sex guru Osho/Rajneesh/Baghwan, exposes the child abuse in those communes which was the same as in Centrepoint – but which the 2018 Netflix hit “Wild Wild Country” ignored. It’s cathartic that the Dutch filmmaker boldly confronts perpetrators on camera. Sidenote: I interviewed one of the survivors, Sarito Carroll, last year. Please read her book too if you’ve watched the film.
More familiar territory: Twisted Yoga exposes the sex trafficking tantra yoga movement Atman/MISA from Romania that is still active across Europe – and the backdrop to Agama Yoga in Thailand which I investigated in Cult Trip. One of the brave survivors who helped with the arrest of guru-on-the-run Gregorian Bivolaru in Paris in 2023 is Bec Sonkkila. She’s not in the film but in the excellent BBC podcast series Bad Guru that goes deeper than the Apple+ documentary. Bec also gave a powerful presentation (Toxic Tantra) at Decult in 2024.
BRETHREN “CHARITY” SUES SURVIVOR PODCAST
Apart from the above mentioned abuse in cults, nothing gets my blood boiling like silencing activists and survivors with legal threats. This is currently playing out again with the Rapid Relief Team, the infamous litigious charity run by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC – also known as the Exclusive Brethren), a worldwide fundamentalist high-control group. They are suing CSA and PBCC survivor Cheryl Bawtinheimer from Get A Life because the YouTube channel showed their “Cookie Bird” mascot in some videos. Yes, a cartoon kookaburra is the issue.
It sounds ridiculous, but for the Canadian activist, it is serious: Cheryl, who is looking after a sick husband while also holding her Brethren abuser to account, now has to fight a lengthy and expensive court case that was clearly designed to intimidate and exhaust her.
“This is bigger than one logo, one lawsuit or one channel”, she told me. “It is about whether wealthy organisations can weaponise copyright law to silence former members who dare to speak publicly.” The Get A Life podcast has become a vital platform for those voices, and defending it matters to us all. I’ve supported them with a statement from Decult. Cult Chat had Cheryl on the show, and the Roys Report picked it up.
“WORST SLAPP EVER” – HELP THEIR LEGAL BATTLE
New Zealand law research group Leighton Associates calls this case “the worst SLAPP we’ve ever seen”. More people are pushing back. If you want to support Get A Life too, then please consider donating to their Go Fund Me campaign. Every contribution, large or small, helps to hold the Rapid Relief Team accountable and stop the cult charity’s attempts at censorship and intimidation. Because that’s clearly not what charities should be doing.
Lots to watch, to process and to stand up for this month. I’ll be back soon with the first speaker announcement for our biennial conference this October: Decult 2026 – in Christchurch and live-streamed around the world – is fully under way. Only six more months, so time to pre-register now.
Ngā mihi nui,
Anke