{"id":662355,"date":"2026-06-28T06:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/662355\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T06:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:58:28","slug":"extremism-knows-no-nationality-the-uk-is-not-immune-to-cults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/662355\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Extremism knows no nationality. The UK is not immune to cults’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take the Jesus Army, recently profiled in an expansive BBC podcast series<\/a>. The group began in the 1970s in the shadow of the counterculture. It went on to ensnare thousands of people in tightly controlled, sometimes abusive religious communities in Northamptonshire, the Midlands, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Families were separated, and members were denied access to the outside world. Members cut off contact with non-converted friends and family, and gave up all personal possessions. Everything was shared.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with separating oneself from the dominant culture. Doing so can even be healthy. And yet the allegations raised against the Jesus Army that ultimately emerged were horrifying. The Jesus Army wasn\u2019t just an offbeat community with its own take on the world. Former members alleged that it was a harbor for abuse, some of it directed at children. (In 2019, a BBC investigation helped lead to the demise of the group.)<\/p>\n

The Jesus Army was startlingly similar to the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, the group at the center of my book, The Oracle\u2019s Daughter: A Woman\u2019s Escape from her Mother\u2019s Cult. The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps was founded by a pair of ex-hippies who called themselves the \u201cgenerals\u201d of \u201cGod\u2019s Army,\u201d as they often referred to their group. <\/p>\n

Like the Jesus Army, the cult in my book was dogged by allegations of abuse against children \u2013 among many other allegations \u2013 until everything came crashing down in 2017, when the authorities raided the remote New Mexico compound where the group was based. The accents and outfits were different. But the broader themes \u2013 of extremism, of abuse \u2013 were shockingly similar.<\/p>\n

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UK legislators and anti-cult activists have tried to reckon with cults for decades. Notorious cult-like groups including the Children of God, the Unification Church, the Divine Light Mission, and many others have had a notable presence in Britain. An organisation originally called FAIR, or \u201cFamily Action Information and Rescue,\u201d began in 1975 to combat the proliferation of cults and cult-like groups.<\/p>\n

\"\"Author Harrison Hill<\/p>\n

Over in France, in 2001 a bill was passed to address cults and other similar extremist groups. The Guardian wrote, \u201cFrance has become the first country in the world to introduce specific legislation aimed at controlling the activities of cults.\u201d <\/p>\n

Inspired by France and other European countries considering similar measures, in 2002 the UK Parliament tabled a motion addressing \u201cthe large number of cult organisations operating in the United Kingdom.\u201d The motion \u201cdeprecates the continuing failure of successive British governments over many years to take any action to protect our citizens from the activities of such cults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little subsequent action appears to have been taken in the years that followed. And yet even the drafters of the motion would\u2019ve likely acknowledged how difficult it can be to distinguish between a cult and a religion, and thus difficult to take actions against cults. (Some scholars don\u2019t even use the word \u201ccult,\u201d finding it too vague and pejorative.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the first to admit that millions of Americans are currently in the grip of extremism, in no small part thanks to the messianic manipulations of President Donald J. Trump. But extremism knows no nationality. And the United Kingdom is no more immune to the allure of cults than any other country.<\/p>\n

All of us need community, security, and purpose. Groups that promise a spiritual and material home will always have an appeal, no matter where they are based, or how strange their beliefs and behaviors. Human nature is the same across time and borders. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Oracle\u2019s Daughter<\/a> by Harrison Hill is out now. Published by The Bridge Street Press, Little, Brown Book Group.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Take the Jesus Army, recently profiled in an expansive BBC podcast series. The group began in the 1970s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[457,222065,59,57,58,50,6884,27157,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-662355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-books","tag-culture-wars","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-religion","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}