“Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. ) Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill

In the midst of this institutional disarray, Muster continued her personal search for truth and religious meaning as an ISKCON member until, disillusioned at last with the movement’s internal divisions, she quit her job and left the organization.”Ģ4. In this candid and critical account, Muster follows the inner workings of the movement and the Hare Krishnas’ progressive decline.Ĭombining personal reminiscences, published articles, and internal documents, Betrayal of the Spirit details the scandals that beset the Krishnas–drug dealing, weapons stockpiling, deceptive fundraising, child abuse, and murder within ISKCON–as well as the dynamics of schisms that forced some 95 percent of the group’s original members to leave. Muster joined the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)–the Hare Krishnas–in 1978, shortly after the death of the movement’s spiritual master, and worked for ten years as a public relations secretary and editor of the organization’s newspaper, the ISKCON World Review. ) Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life Behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement by Nori J. BANISHED is the first look inside the organization, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it’s perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC’s right to picket funerals. And they aren’t going anywhere: in March, the U.S. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. Perhaps you’ve seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. “You’ve likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church.

) Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church by Lauren Drain

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