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Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (1971)
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a survivalist organization active during the 1970s and early 1980s. Its origins date to 1971, when James Ellison founded a Baptist congregation called the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church in Pontiac, Missouri. In 1976, Ellison purchased a 224-acre property along Bull Shoals Lake in Marion Continue reading
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Covenant of the Goddess (1975)
The Covenant of the Goddess is an international, cross-traditional Wiccan confederation and advocacy organization. Incorporated in 1975, it is one of the oldest and largest religious bodies dedicated specifically to Wiccan practice. Its membership includes both autonomous covens and solitary individuals. The organization’s stated goals are to encourage cooperation among different Wiccan traditions, provide public Continue reading
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A Course in Miracles (1976)
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a spiritual self-study program rooted in a book by the same name. It combines Christian terminology with psychological and Vedantic concepts, presenting a system focused on forgiveness as a means of releasing guilt. The text teaches that the physical world is an illusion produced by the ego and that Continue reading
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Cosmic Ordering (2001)
Cosmic ordering is a belief system centered on positive thinking that gained a following around the start of the current century. The practice, which has roots in the New Thought movement of a century earlier, holds that individuals can achieve personal or professional goals by clearly stating them as “orders” to the universe. Followers typically Continue reading
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Corpsewood (1976)
Corpsewood Manor was a secluded homestead constructed in the late 1970s on Taylor’s Ridge in Chattooga County, Georgia. The property sat on forested land accessible only by an old logging road. It later became widely known due to a double homicide that occurred there in December 1982. Charles Lee Scudder was born in 1926 and Continue reading
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Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul (1974)
Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul was a Dallas-based new religious movement founded and led by Terri Lee Hoffman. Active primarily from the 1970s through the early 1990s, the organization combined elements of metaphysics, meditation, and occult belief systems. The group later attracted public scrutiny and law enforcement attention following a series of unexplained Continue reading
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Congregation for the Light (c. 1960)
The Congregation for the Light, commonly referred to by its members as “The Light,” is a religious organization that has operated in the United States for several decades. Although its modern public presence became more apparent in the 1960s, the group’s internal tradition traces its origins to 19th-century England. According to the organization’s account, a Continue reading
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Concerned Christians (c. 1980)
The Concerned Christians was a religious organization founded in the early 1980s in Denver, Colorado, by Monte Kim Miller. The group was initially established as an anti-cult and anti–New Age activist organization. In its early phase, it worked with law enforcement agencies and established churches to raise awareness about mind control practices and what it Continue reading
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Community Chapel and Bible Training Center (1967)
Community Chapel and Bible Training Center was an independent religious organization founded in 1967 in Burien, Washington. The church originated from a home Bible study led by Donald Lee Barnett, who had completed two years of education at a Pentecostal Bible college. The study began after Barnett’s wife, Barbara, met a Lutheran couple through her Continue reading
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Commandment Keepers (1919)
The Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of the Living God Pillar & Ground of Truth, Inc. is a Black Hebrew religious organization founded in Harlem in 1919. The congregation teaches that people of Ethiopian descent are among the lost tribes of Israel and identifies King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba as ancestral figures. It Continue reading
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Colonia Dignidad (1961)
Colonia Dignidad was an isolated settlement established in 1961 in Chile’s Maule Region by German emigrants. It was officially registered as the Sociedad Benefactora y Educacional Dignidad (Charitable and Educational Society “Dignity”). Over time, the enclave became associated with extensive human rights violations, including child sexual abuse, forced labor, and the detention and torture of Continue reading
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Andrew Cohen/EnlightenNext (c. 1990)
Over nearly four decades, Andrew Cohen developed a system of teaching that he called “Evolutionary Enlightenment.” His career traced a progression from teachings influenced by Eastern mysticism toward a Western-oriented philosophy centered on cosmic evolution. In later years, his work became closely associated with allegations of psychological, physical, and financial abuse within his teaching community. Continue reading
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City Harvest Church (1989)
City Harvest Church is a Pentecostal megachurch based in Singapore that was founded in 1989 by Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho, beginning with a group of 20 youths meeting at the Peace Centre. Initially known as “Ekklesia Ministry,” the group operated under the legal oversight of Bethany Christian Centre. It became an independent Continue reading
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The Circle/Nathan Chasing Horse (c. 2005)
Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, also known as Nathan Chasing Horse, is a Sicangu Lakota actor and a subject of legal proceedings concerning multiple sexual offenses. He is also alleged to be the leader of a small sect called The Circle. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and is Continue reading
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Church Universal and Triumphant (1975)
The Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) is a New Age religious organization founded in 1975 by Elizabeth Clare Prophet after the death of her first husband, Mark Prophet. The group developed from the Summit Lighthouse, which Mark Prophet established in 1958. The movement’s teachings combine elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Theosophy, with significant influence Continue reading
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Church of World Messianity (1938)
The Church of World Messianity (Sekai Kyūsei Kyō), often abbreviated as COWM, is a Japanese new religion founded in 1935 by Mokichi Okada. In 1926, Okada reported receiving a divine revelation that, according to the religion’s teachings, enabled him to act as a channel of God’s “healing light.” Followers refer to Okada with the honorific Continue reading
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Church of Wells (2011)
The Church of Wells, originally known as the Church of Arlington or You Must Be Born Again (YMBBA) Ministries, is a religious community based in Wells, Texas. The group was founded in 2011 by Sean Morris and Ryan Ringnald, who met as roommates at Baylor University in 2004. A third leader, Jacob Gardner, also joined Continue reading
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Church of the SubGenius (c. 1979)
The Church of the SubGenius originated in the late 1970s as a parody religion critiquing belief systems including Christianity, New Age spirituality, and commercialism. The organization officially formed as the SubGenius Foundation and was co-founded by Ivan Stang (Douglas St. Clair Smith) and Philo Drummond (Steve Wilcox). Stang serves as a leader and publicist and Continue reading
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Church of the Master Angels (2017)
The Church of the Master Angels (CMA) was established in 2017 by “Master John Douglas,” who was born Srjan Marjanovic in Australia in 1971. It describes itself as “a unitary, non-denominational, faith-based community Church” that welcomes “all seekers of truth, cosmic awareness and soul-realization.” The organization states that it promotes “the selfless worship of God Continue reading
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Church of the Last Testament (1991)
Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop was born on January 14, 1961, in Krasnodar, Russia. His family moved to Minusinsk in 1968. After completing his schooling, he served his compulsory military service in the Red Army, becoming a sergeant on construction sites in Mongolia. When he returned to Siberia, he worked as a factory metal worker and later Continue reading
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Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (2005)
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), also known as Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of “pasta” and “Rastafarianism”) is a satirical faith commenting on religion and public policy. Its adherents describe it as “a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other.” The movement began in the United States in 2005 as a public response Continue reading
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Church of the Firstborn and the General Assembly of Heaven (1869)
The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, often shortened to the Church of the First Born, is a fundamentalist Christian sect with historical ties to the Latter-Day Saint (LDS) movement, though it maintains no present-day affiliation with Mormon fundamentalist groups that use similar “Firstborn” names. The group has also been referred to by older Continue reading
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Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God (c. 1967)
The Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, often shortened to the Church of the Lamb of God, was a Mormon offshoot founded by Ervil LeBaron in the late 1960s. Its origins trace to the broader Mormon fundamentalist movement, which sought to continue the practice of polygamy after the Church of Jesus Continue reading
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Church of the Creator/TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation-Family of URI (1969)
The Church of the Creator is a small group headquartered in Ashland, Oregon, that integrates elements of New Age thought with Christianity and Jewish mystical traditions such as Kabbalah and Gematria. The organization was founded in 1969 as a church association by Grace Marama Uri and her husband, James Germain Uri. From its inception, the Continue reading
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Church of the Creator/Creativity Alliance (1973)
Bernhardt “Ben” Klassen founded the Church of the Creator in 1973, later changing its name to the World Church of the Creator following litigation by another unrelated sect with the same name. It is also known as part of the Creativity Alliance, a grouping of atheistic white supremacist sects that promotes white separatism, anti-Christianity, antisemitism, Continue reading
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Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 