Recently, a colleague and I were discussing a famous story about a monkey. The story goes that the best way to catch a monkey is to put a banana at the bottom of a jar with a narrow neck. The monkey reaches in and grabs the banana, but it can’t pull its fist back out, …
Why is it so hard to let go of what holds us back? Read More »
Cults in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic This is the first video in our new series, “CULT? Dialogue Ireland Cultism Series”. Please also see our vaccination document: Cult vaccination. Thanks to Paul Carley for moderating this video. It was produced and published by Svetlana Krilova, Dialogue Ireland’s Russian-language consultant. Mike Garde, Director of Dialogue …
It is not surprising that, during times of threat to our safety, health and future, people are more likely to seek answers and comfort from a wide range of sources. The arrival of Covid-19 is a pandemic threat to humanity that is clearly causing stress and fear to many people across the world. It is …
Shunning, the cutting-off of all communication practised by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, is presented as a “loving measure”, yet it destroys families. This is portrayed vividly in the recent film Apostasy, which tells the story of life among Jehovah’s Witnesses from the inside. Its director, Daniel Kokotajlo, was a Jehovah’s Witness for ten years: handing out …
In December 2018, Evgeny Volkov visited the Latvian capital. He is the leading translator of foreign literature on sects and cults into Russian. Thanks to him, readers across the post-Soviet space first learned how to better support people harmed by cults. During his visit to Riga, I was lucky enough to interview him about his …
On 31 October 2018, colleagues from Ireland and I went for lunch at the Scientology centre in Firhouse, Dublin. The centre’s website said: “The facility has been established as a community hub, one that can host events accommodating over 1,000 people, featuring state-of-the-art audiovisual technology, meeting rooms, a Café, and even a fully equipped sports …
Our visit to the Scientology Center Firhouse (Dublin) Read More »
