Posted by Ten of the strangest religious cults in the world: from UFO sects such as Heaven’s Gate, the Raëlians and Scientology to racist movements such as Creativity and the Nation of Yahweh, and groups involved in crimes and mass deaths such as the Order of the Solar Temple.
Lately there is much talk about religion and some of the biggest problems of modern societies are linked to religion itself.
Many wars have been fought, and are still being fought, to assert the greatness of each particular god.
Apart from the most known religions, however, in the world there are other bizarre religious cults that will make you think that, perhaps, being an atheist is not all that bad.
10. Heaven’s Gate
Heaven’s Gate was a religious cult founded in 1974 in the United States by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, who called themselves Do and Ti. It mixed Christian millenarianism, New Age and ufology. Why do I say “was”?
Because in March 1997 Applewhite and 38 other people were found dead after a mass suicide in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Nettles had already died of cancer in 1985.
The leaders claimed to be able to speak with extraterrestrial entities who had revealed that the planet Earth would be “recycled.”
In order to survive, the followers should go on another planet called “Next Level” with a spaceship and in order to do that they had to die.
Convinced that the spaceship that would take them away was travelling behind the Hale-Bopp comet, visible in those months, the leader and the followers took their lives together.
9. Raelian Movement
The Raelian Movement was founded in the ’70s, precisely in 1973 in France, by Claude Vorilhon, who now calls himself Raël. Paradoxically it is an atheist religion: the “gods” of the religions would actually be extraterrestrials mistaken for deities.
Rael says that extraterrestrials have been in touch with him and have revealed to him the origin of mankind.
Humanity is nothing more than an experiment carried out by humanoid extraterrestrials called Elohim.
The Elohim have appointed Raël as their fortieth and final prophet, but in the past they also had other messengers, among others: Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, and Buddha.
Even many religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and Taoism would result from these extraterrestrial species.
According to Rael, the Elohim will return to visit us when we are peaceful and ready to receive them, and at that time they will reveal to us their advanced technologies.
8. Scientology
Scientology is perhaps the best known of these cults and even here there are extraterrestrials entities as part of their belief system.
Established in 1952, it prides itself to have many Hollywood stars among its members.
According to the founder L. Ron Hubbard a dictator of the Galactic Confederacy, called Xenu, would have brought millions of aliens on Earth millions of years ago and then he would have exterminated them.
The full story of Xenu is incredibly long and complicated, but if you wish to read it you can find it at this link.
There are various levels within the organization and to reach them people have to pay a lot of money. If you are not rich, therefore, Scientology is not for you
7. Creativity
The Creativity movement was founded in 1973 in Florida by Ben Klassen and is an openly racist religious movement, linked to white supremacy, antisemitic and anti-Christian. In the United States it is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, and in 2003 its leader Matthew Hale was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
According to this cult, race it is the supreme value of religion and the highest good is what is good for the white race.
What is bad for the white race represents the worst of sins.
In this religion there are no aliens and his followers believe that everything is within nature.
If you are pure Aryans, this is the sect for you.
6. Nation of Yahweh
If you are not eligible to enter the Creativity sect, perhaps the Nation of Yahweh will be better for you.
This movement was born in Miami in 1979, founded by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh, “God, son of God”, and it is primarily a movement for African Americans.
Its leader argues that African Americans are the original Israelites and must return to Israel.
Obviously they think that whites are devils; I wonder how a meeting between them and the Creativity movement would end up? The founder was later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and died in 2007.
5. Ho No Hana Sanpogyo
This cult was born in Japan in 1980 and it is also called the “cult of feet reading”.
The leader claims to be the ultimate savior of the world and to be able to diagnose disease through feet examination.
His followers began to grow until it was discovered that he was charging the equivalent of $ 900 for each “reading.”
He was then prosecuted and ordered to pay more than a million dollars in damage, as well as sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Now who will save us?
4. Eastern Lightning
The official name is “Church of God Almighty” and it was founded in 1991 in China, where it has been banned since 1995.
Its followers believe that the biblical God has returned to Earth as a woman named Yang Xiangbin, born in an ordinary family in northern China.
This cult is considered a terrorist one by the Chinese government and has been linked to various crimes towards other Christian cults in the country.
3. Nuwaubianism
This was a cult of black Muslims founded in New York around 1967 by Dwight York.
In 1993, however, they changed their minds, and instead of being a cult founded on Islam, now his sources of inspiration are Ancient Egypt and extraterrestrials. Again.
The founder is Malachi York who has legally changed his name several times.
From the ’50s he founded various pseudo-religious groups, primarily focusing on black nationalism, UFOs, cryptozoology and conspiracy.
It has been defined by the Islamic community as a fake Muslim faith and in 2004 he was sentenced to 135 years in prison for serious crimes.
2. Order of the Solar Temple
This is a secret society that claims to be based on the ideals of the Templars.
Founded in 1984 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret, the sect says they want to prepare humanity to a transitional period that will precede the second coming of the Messiah in the form of a solar King God.
In 1994 the death of a three-month old baby boy is attributed to the sect. The leader considered him the Antichrist, and this was the reason why he had to die.
A few days later, in some Swiss villages and in Canada, dozens of members died in a series of mass murders and suicides, which continued in the following years. The farewell letters of the victims claimed that this way they would run away from hypocrisy and oppression of the world.
1. Church of Euthanasia
This cute movement was founded in Boston, in the US, in 1992 by Chris Korda and Robert Kimberk and says it will restore the balance between humans and other species.
Its slogan is:
Save the planet, kill yourself
The organization uses art, music and sermons to sensitize men on human overpopulation of the planet.
The group says it rejects murder and aims only at voluntary population reduction, starting from its single commandment: do not procreate. In the past it has also had legal trouble over some content published on its website.
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