The only good Cult is a DeCult

Mark Honeychurch - 5 August 2024

Anke Richter, who we’ve talked to on our podcast in the past, has promised to write an article for our newsletter soon. In the meantime she’d like us to let you all know that, if you’re in Christchurch, there are a couple of interesting events coming up.

First off, in early September she’s giving a talk titled “How not to start a cult”. Although this talk is more geared towards people who are in spiritual communities, I’ve seen her give the talk in Wellington last year and it was definitely interesting for skeptics in several ways. Not only is it eye-opening to hear about her exploits as a journalist who straddles the two worlds of being interested in spirituality while also wanting to expose when spiritual leaders go wrong, but also the audience at the event I attended was certainly not composed of the kind of people you’d meet at a skeptical event! It’s always fascinating to see how people at the other end of the spectrum think and act, and listening to the questions from the audience for Anke reminded me just how many people see the world in a very different way to how we skeptics see it.

Secondly, and this is more of a thing for those who are fascinated by cults enough to be happy to pay good money for an entire weekend of cult-related talks, Anke is hosting the DeCult conference in Christchurch in October. I may or may not be able to attend, depending on how the planets align, but our chair, Bronwyn, will be there giving a talk on ISTA and Highden Temple. And many more fascinating speakers will also be there, including Dr Janja Lalich (a heavy-hitter in the ex-cult world), Sarah Steel (host of the awesome Let’s Talk About Sects podcast), Craig Hoyle (who I listened to giving a fascinating talk just a few weeks ago in Auckland) and Dr Sara Rahmani (who I will be seeing giving a talk in Wellington tomorrow evening). You can check out the full speaker list on the Decult website, and purchase tickets from Humanitix.

In this week’s newsletter, we hear from me about a long-time emailer, first-time challenger Paul Burns, who wants to counter our $100,000 prize with his own badly thought-out challenge. Katrina has looked into a little of the daftness that’s flared up as a result of the Olympics opening ceremony. Craig has investigated a diet - one that might not all be smoke and mirrors. As well as Katrina’s brief Olympic foray, she’s also written a more substantive article on a recent analysis of COVID vaccine health data. Bronwyn’s brought us up to the current day on the Divine Light Mission, along with their connections to New Zealand. And finally I’ve raked the coals of free energy company Steorn, a company who we can finally say are, thankfully, no more.