Bizarre Religions and Cults around the World

Published on 10/25/2007

The Church of Euthanasia

"Save the Planet, Kill Yourself"

The Church of Euthanasia (CoE) is a dadaist organization started by Rev. Chris Korda in the Boston,Massachusetts area of the United States. According to the church's website, it is "a non-profit educationalfoundation devoted to restoring balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth." The CoE usessermons, music, culture jamming, publicity stunts and direct action combined with an underlying sense of satireand black humor to highlight Earth's unsustainable population. The CoE is notorious for its conflicts with anti-abortion Christian activists. According to the church's website, the one commandment is "Thou shalt not procreate". The CoE further asserts

four principle pillars: suicide, abortion, cannibalism

("strictly limited to consumption of the already dead"),

and sodomy

("any sexual act not intended for procreation"). The church stresses population reduction by voluntary means only. Therefore murder, rape and involuntary sterilization are strictly forbidden by churchdoctrine.Slogans employed by the group include "Save the Planet, Kill Yourself", "Six Billion Humans Can't Be Wrong",and "Eat a Queer Fetus for Jesus", all of which are intended to mix inflammatory issues to unnerve those whooppose abortion and homosexuality.The Church gained early attention in 1995 because of its affiliation with paranoia.com which hosted many sitesthat were controversial or skirted illegality. Members later appeared on an episode of The Jerry Springer Show titled "I Want to Join a Suicide Cult".Following the

September 11, 2001 attacks, the CoE posted to its website a four-minute music video

titled I Like to Watch, combining hardcore pornographic video with footage of the World Trade Center collapse.The montage featured an electronic soundtrack recorded by Korda and thelyrics, "People dive into the street/ While I play with my meat." Kordadescribed the project as reflecting his "contempt for and frustration withthe profound ugliness of the modern industrial world."The church's website previously

had instructions on "how to kill yourself"

by asphyxiation using helium. These pages were removed in2003

after a 52-year-old woman used them to commit suicide

inSt. Louis County, Missouri, resulting in legal threats against the church.

Nation of Yahweh:

"Black people are the true Jews"

Nation of Yahwehis a predominately African American religious groupthat is an offshoot of the Black Hebrew Israelites line of thought. They

were formed in the late 1970s in Miami-Dade county. While the Nation of Yahweh falls under the umbrella of Black Hebrew Israelites, their beliefs are unique and distinct from that of other known Black Hebrew Israelitegroups. The founder and creator of the religion is Yahweh ben Yahweh. The group has engendered controversy due to legal issues of its founder. It also faced accusations of being a black supremacist cult by the SouthernPoverty Law Center and The Miami Herald.The SPLC criticized the beliefs of the Nation of Yahweh as racist for the following reason. They state the group believed blacks are "the true Jews" and that whites were "white devils." In addition to this they claim the group believed Yahweh ben Yahweh had a Messianic mission to vanquish whites and that they held views similar to theChristian Identity movement. They quote Tom Metzger of White Aryan Resistance as saying groups like theirsare "the black counterpart of us."Despite the recent death of their leader (see Yahweh ben Yahweh), the Nation of Yahweh is still active. Itsmembers also claim to have abandoned their past racism; the leader's daughter has apparently stated that allpeople are children of God. An attorney and member of the group, Wendelyn Rush, insists their current war withthe U.S. government is a non-violent verbal battle. The group is currently spread throughout the US and is nolonger concentrated in one location (formerly Miami-Dade county). Their present literature downplays and hasnearly erased all past racism.Despite some of these present changes, much of the same rhetoric and codes of behavior have remainedessentially the same as when the group began. Most still insist that Yahweh ben Yahweh is "Grand Master of All,the God of the Universe, the Grand Potentate, the Everlasting Father and the persecuted Messiah." A few elderly members consider 9-11 to have been a punishment from God for his imprisonment. Pledges of devotion to himand war against infidels allegedly still exist.

Raëlism

"Scientifically advanced humanoid extraterrestrials created humans"

Raëlism is the religious, naturalist belief system promoted by the Raëlian Movement, an atheist UFO religionfounded in 1970s which focuses on the social ideas of sexual self-determination, individualism, andhumanitarianism in the spirit of sharing and responsibility, which, they claim, will bring a new age of wealth andpeace guided by those with greater intelligence, as predicted by main religions. They also believe in scientifically advanced humanoid extraterrestrials known by our primitive ancestors as Elohim (or "those who came from thesky"). Raëlism espouses belief that Elohim synthesized life on Earth through mastery of genetic engineering, andthat human cloning and "mind transfer" are mechanisms by which eternal life may be achieved. According to Raël, a message explaining our origins and future was dictated to him in December 1973, duringpersonal meetings with a 25,000-year-old extraterrestrial named Yahweh who came in a UFO. The story goesthat after terraforming the Earth, human beings from another planet — the "Elohim" (Hebrew for the word"God" as found in the Hebrew Old Testament, which the extraterrestrial himself translated as meaning those who came from the sky in ancient Hebrew) — created humans and all life on earth using DNA manipulation andgenetic engineering. The message dictated to Raël during his encounter with the Elohim states that the Elohimcontacted about forty people to act as their prophets on Earth, among which are those who founded the world'smajor religions (Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, etc.)

The Raëlians believe, furthermore, that the Elohim will visit the earth officially when enough of its population ispeaceful and come to know about them. They believe this is foretold in all religious texts - the predicted "Age of Apocalypse" or "Revelation" (unveiling of the truth).

Heaven's Gate

Committed suicide to take their souls to a spaceship behind Comet Hale-Bopp

Funders of Heaven's Gate, M. Applewhite and B. Truesdale, claimed to have arrived via UFO from another dimension (a "level above human") and would return via a secretive "Process", which was taught to cultmembers. One of the group's publications, "How To Build A U.F.O.", purported to describe an interplanetary spacecraft built out of materials such as old tires.The cult's end coincided with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. In 2007, Applewhite convincedthirty-eight followers to commit suicide so that their souls could take a ride on a spaceship that they believed washiding behind the comet carrying Jesus. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's gate away team".

Aum Shinrikyo

Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese religious group created by Shoko Asahara. In1995 the group was reported as having 9,000 members in Japan, and as many as40,000 worldwide. The core of Aum doctrine are Buddhist scriptures included inthe Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.The cult started attracting controversy in the late 1980's with accusations of deception of recruits, and of holding cult members against their will and forcingmembers to donate money. A murder of a cult member who tried to leave is now known to have taken place in February 1989. The cult is known to haveconsidered assassinations of several individuals critical of the cult.On the morning of 20th March 1995, Aum members released sarin in a co-ordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12commuters, seriously harming 54 and affecting 980 more. Prosecutors allegethat Asahara was tipped off about planned police raids on cult facilities by aninsider, and ordered an attack in central Tokyo to divert attention away from the group. At the cult'sheadquarters in Kamikuishiki on the foot of Mount Fuji, police found explosives, chemical weapons and biological warfare agents, such as anthrax and Ebola cultures, and a Russian MIL Mi-17 military helicopter.There were stockpiles of chemicals which could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people. After Asahara's arrest and trial, the cult re-grouped under the new name of Aleph in February 2000.