Claim OwnershipSpeaking of Cults
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A podcast about cults, coercive control and recovery. Formerly called the Sensibly Speaking podcast, in this weekly show host Chris Shelton interviews cult survivors, psychologists and other professionals and specialists about the topics of cult recruitment, retention and recovery. This also includes non-religious cults and extreme political movements including the more divisive elements of MAGA and left-wing culture war issues. There is nothing off-limits but we always try to be respectful of the people involved even if we do not respect the beliefs or actions involved.
370 Episodes
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This week I welcome back Pamela Nickel Williams, whose new memoir about her time growing up in and around Scientology has now been released. Pam has quite a story to tell and I hope you'll give it a look.
Pamela's Website: https://clearlyliesaretrue.com
This week I welcome back podcast favorite Jon Atack to discuss his brand-new book, "If Scientology Ruled the World: Nazi Occultists, Sex Magick, Space Aliens, and the Second Coming." This book is as wild as it sounds and uncovers some things I can almost guarantee you have never heard or seen before regarding the common origin story of the Nazi's Aryan race theory and Hubbard's ideas about body thetans and spiritual rehabilitation. Enjoy!
Link to Jon's website: https://jonatack.co.uk/
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/If-Scientology-Ruled-World-Occultists-ebook/dp/B0FP5PMNJT
This week I welcome back Bryce Blankenagel and Shannon Grover to discuss events the Mormon Church would rather you don't know about. There's a lot and we only scratch the surface in this episode. Enjoy!
Bryce and Shannon's podcast: https://glassboxpodcast.com
Note: this podcast had an audio issue and had to be re-uploaded. Sorry for any confusion about that.
This week I welcome author Jane Borden, who recently published Cults Like US about the cult roots of American society and how these have perpetuated to this day in many of the moral and social values we take for granted or just don't think about too much. We have a lot of food for thought for you in this one. Enjoy!
Jane Borden's website: https://janeborden.com
This week I am revisiting the REM Model (TM) and discussing more real-world examples of how it might be used to help figure out or understand ourselves and other people and why we do some of the crazy stuff we do. Enjoy!
In this week's shorter-than-usual podcast, I give a full rundown on the indictment and trial of Sean Combs and why it was that he completely got away with years of domestic abuse and coercion. "Diddy" turned his business into a sex-trafficking criminal enterprise (allegedly) and there will be no justice for his victims because of how our laws and justice system operate. You'll understand why after you hear this.
Here is your explanation for why people act the way they do, why people join and stay in cults and why people will fight to the death for some of the most irrational and hateful beliefs and ideas. If you've ever run into anyone that you just couldn't understand, this podcast is going to help you finally figure that out. Enjoy!
This week I welcome Ewan Whyte, a man who grew up in an incredibly abusive Christian Nationalist group called the Community of Jesus and who was sent to Grenville College - a boarding school under the leadership of this cult. His story has a happier ending than most and he had difficulty talking about some aspects of his experience but I hope this podcast will still be informative of his experience and a cautionary tale about giving over your life to a belief system that is really nothing more than human cruelty.
Ewan's website: https://ewanwhyte.com
Imagine being born into slavery in Mexico as a female in a Mormon polygamist cult that treats all women like chattel, not good for anything but doing what they are told and making babies. That's what my guest, Pamela Jones, escaped from after being raised amongst seriously violent religious extremists (who are still operating their cult in Mexico and are richer than ever). As an adult, she got out with all nine of her children and started a new life in the US. Pamela has an upcoming book about her experience releasing in September but she shared highlights of her story with me in this week's podcast. It's simply unbelievable what some men are willing and able to do when they feel empowered with righteousness. The good news is that Pamela has made an incredible life for herself and her family and there is a happy ending to this. Enjoy!
Pamela's website: https://PamelaSpeaks.live
This week I am bringing back Jason Horvatic, a former Scientologist who came out publicly about two years ago and had some contentious views and statements to make about me, Scientology and his own views about his experiences. Well, the road to recovery has many pitfalls and dark alleyways that people can go down, but they can also come right back out again. This podcast is a pretty plain English discussion about all of this and where Jason is at now. I hope this will be of interest and it helps. Enjoy!
This week I am welcoming back Dr. Maurice Turmel aka "Dr Moe" to discuss religious trauma and his new book on the subject. We go over a number of key principles underlying religious trauma which I think might help anyone who is overcoming an abusive religious background. Hope this one helps!
Dr. Turmel's website: https://drmoe2000.bandcamp.com
I'm posting this bonus podcast mid-week since I didn't want to delay getting this information and interview with Dr. Clint Heacock out to you. Project Esther is one part of a series of actions being taken by the White House to repress free speech and demonstrations and curtail our rights. Current events are running at a lightning pace and I want to do my part to help inform you what is actually going on in the US right now.
Links discussed:
Dismantling Doctrine podcast: https://mindshiftpodcast.podbean.com/
Project Esther: https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/project-esther-national-strategy-combat-antisemitism
Heritage Foundation: https://www.heritage.org/
MSNBC report on Project Esther: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-antisemitism-project-esther-heritage-palestinian-rcna207935
This week I welcome Patrick Ryan, a cult intervention specialist who has been working in the field for 40 years and definitely knows what he's talking about, having helped thousands of people one-on-one to leave destructive cults and abusive situations. In today's show, we go right to the heart of what it takes to engage with and help cult members and it's not any easy walk in the park, yet it's also so simple that it's kind of hard to believe. Enjoy!
Pat's website: https://cultrecovery101.com
This week I welcome back Dr. Jonathan Stea, author of "Mind the Science" and a real pleasure to talk to about the harms and pitfalls of science denialism, health fads and pseudoscience. In this age of post-truth nonsense all over social media and in our government, this is a vital topic for us to do something about. I hope you'll give it a listen. Enjoy!
Jonathan's website: https://jonathanstea.com
This week I welcome back cult intervention specialist Ashlen Hilliard to discuss the perils and vagaries of cult interventions, deprogramming, the background of all this and what we do to help extract people from destructive cults. We go pretty deep into what this is about in just an hour's time. Enjoy!
Ashlen's website: https://PeopleLeaveCults.com
This week I welcome Jura Glo, a survivor of a group called Radical Honesty, which takes honesty to an extreme level that is more suited to the needs of predatory personalities than personal transformation and growth. We take a hard look at this group and its ideas and the effects of what they can do. Enjoy!
Jura Glo on Substack: https://juraglo.substack.com/
Following on last week's podcast abut the Troubled Teen Industry, this week I am joined again by Bryce Blankenagel and Shannon Grover to go deep on what the Mormon church's position is on the LGBT+ community, why there is so much hate and bigotry for same-sex marriages and how "conversion therapy" is still very much alive and well all over Utah and the US. We cover a lot of territory in this one. Enjoy!
Glassbox podcast: https://glassboxpodcast.com/
This week I welcome Meg Appelgate, founder of Unsilenced.org and a survivor of the "troubled teen industry" - a loose network of abusive labor trafficking and cultic control groups which focus their efforts on abusing children and teens to "manage and control them" so they will somehow stop being so "troublesome." It's truly sick and disgusting work and it's being done to the tune of $23 billion in government and private funding, and no one is doing a thing to stop it.
Meg's website: https://unsilenced.org
This week I welcome back Dr. Clint Heacock, a former Evangelical minister turned whistleblower and we discuss the current White House administration, the people guiding strategic and policy-making decisions for Trump and the danger they present to America. There are many parallels to cultic activity and techniques in what these folks are doing.
Clint's Dismantling Doctrine podcast: https://mindshiftpodcast.podbean.com/
1This week I finally welcome back Jon Atack for his first appearance in this version of my podcast. We had a lot to discuss with the May 9th anniversary of the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard and the legacy of its pseudoscientific nonsense. We cover a lot of territory including a look at the modern world which may surprise you. Enjoy!
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so, if you understand that you were fooled into joining a satanic cult and you also realize that Catholicism was corrupted quite early in it's history and for the supposed virtue of staying relevant in a satanic world, which they clearly have done, as the Catholic Church, though well intentioned very quickly aligned themselves with pagan beliefs and adopted so many pagan beliefs as to make it stupidly clear to Martin Luther 500 years of ago. why not pray to Jesus Christ and ask for salvation?
My Podcast .. Sensibly Cynical STANS Sensibly Speaking. Sensibly Superb.
look I really like your show but quit talking about Trump! Let's Go Brandon!
I was very excited about this podcast when I first heard about it. but after the first few episodes i am beginning to think my idea of critical thinking is much different from yours. To me critical thinking means to look at the big picture and try to see others points of views and disect them. instead I find you both to be very one sided in each of your views, very disappointed.
Everybody who represents themselves in court are not sovereign citizens or agree they are good. Some just don't like lawyers because they are overworked or too expensive. See www.nolo.com, which is not a radical outfit.
This woman’s voice is unbearable to listen to. I couldn’t finish the episode.