Jillian Mai Thi Epperly had once said that she was proud of being a leader of a poop cult. Yes a poop cult! She has well over 50k followers on Facebook, presumably people who buy into her bizarre theories that diarrhea is good for the body and that drinking some disgusting trots-inducing fermented slurry can cure everything including cancer. But then she is hardly the first to propound a bizarre theory and to have people in their droves buying into that theory. But then it is the very anatomy of a cult that has people believing the unbelievable, behaving uncharacteristically, doing the unthinkable.
Jillian from Ohio has a strange ‘scientific’ theory: that all diseases are caused by a fungus called candida that lives in the gut. According to her, severely restricting caloric intake and inducing diarrhea by drinking a concoction of fermented cabbage is the way to rid the body of all problems. This, she promises, will reverse disease, stop aging, and wait for it… turn gay people straight!
She is not a harmless quack. There are people who are doing what she recommends: the death of Bruce Wilmot from pancreatic cancer was likely hastened by following Jillian's unhinged and completely nonsensical advice. Other people, desperate like him, could be similarly influenced into inflicting self harm.
This is a belief system founded by Claude Vorilhon which propounds that life on earth was created by extraterrestrials called Elohim. The followers of the ‘religion’ or 'Raëlians' as they call themselves, believe that messengers, or prophets, of the Elohim include Buddha, Jesus, and others. The rael.org website informs us that the Elohim were mistaken for gods by our primitive ancestors. They are also asking for help in building an embassy for said Elohim.
This obscure cartoon character from the Chip n Dale Disney cartoon show is believed to be a divine personage by a group of Russian fans. They sing songs and worship the cartoon character. Some of her worshippers think “she is strict, cute, adorable and her degree of technical knowledge is practically unachievable for any existing mortal being”.
This is clearly football mania taken to a whole other level. The members of “The Iglesia Maradoniana” believe that Diego Maradona is the greatest football player of all time. That is all very well and good; except that members of this church supposeddly count the years since the birth of the football legend in 1960. They also have these 10 commandments and a ‘Maradonian’ version of the Lord’s Prayer.
This one is not just nuts, it is based on unvarnished racism. This white separatist/ supremacist, anti-semitic ‘religion’ is a neo-nazi hate group that tries to “safeguard its survival” and also wages a “racial holy war” on Jews. In their free time, adherents distribute pamphlets saying "The white race is nature’s finest" and as well as denying the Holocaust.
They claim to be a nation of displaced indigenous people including Moors, Native Americans and all those of African descent. Drawing on the Christianity, Judaism and many other beliefs, this cult is a black supremacist organisation that believes Caucasians were “bred to be killers, with low reproduction levels and a short life span”.
Founded by Shoko Asahara and now designated a terrorist organisation, the Doomsday Cult carried out the deadly Tokyo Subway attack. Deadly Sarin nerve gas was released to kill 12 and injure 50; causing vision problems for a thousand others. This and other attacks were supposed to hasten the apocalypse. The cult leader had his followers convinced that humanity would end; that only his followers would be spared.
Self proclaimed God men and self styled gurus proliferate in India, but the cult of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan reached a new level bizarre. The head of the Dera Sachcha Sauda not only has a huge number of followers but also tremendous political clout. The man whose name is made up to indicate India’s main religions is also a filmmaker, rockstar and producer. Plus he is a convicted rapist currently languishing in jail. I leave you with the rather amazing rendition of the Love Charger a ‘song’ that is composed and sung by this utterly unique, exceedingly hirsute and completely OTT Godman.
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