Aside from Gloriavale, what other weird/fringe groups do we have in New Zealand?
Aside from Gloriavale, what other weird/fringe groups do we have in New Zealand?
I always read stories about what’s going on in Gloriavale, and I quite enjoy videos of random communities abroad as well. Other than Gloriavale what other fringe communities exist in NZ?
I'm tempted to make poor taste jokes but really I've got nothing other than what is the difference between a cult and a religion?
Obviously there's some judgement in there, but I'm a little rough on the distinction
Cults just say the quiet parts out loud.
According to the cults website the other guy mentioned “cults have a strong tendency to harm and control their members” so… Mainstream religions tend to have numbers on their side I guess, but a mass delusion is still a delusion.
But surely every religion is essentially control. As for the barn aspect, that's very interpretable.
This is just confirming my bunch that the difference is really spelling (as a non-bitter ex-Christian. Gosh, I am sounding bitter, however!)
Age....
A cult that has been around long enough tends to be called a religion.
Do Exclusive Brethren count? I worked for one of their companies as a teen, they were weird
Until the 90s there was Centrepoint in Albany.
Wow. I vaguely recall the name but I was just a little kid when that all broke. I didn’t realise how much shit went down there. That Wikipedia article makes for quite a read.
Here’s a website - cults.co.nz - not looked at it in much detail, but it seems to have lots of info.
Lmao they have a "False religion" key, so any religion what isn't Christianity falls under that key.
Also this... "Abortion - There is probably no greater danger to New Zealanders than abortion. The physical danger to babies is obvious"
Keyed as a cult
Wow there is some pretty whacky groups and people on the list. Love that they’ve for the advance + freedom parties there too.
That website seems to be run by someone with... very specific ideas.
Their glossary defines several beliefs about god, including atheism, as "a false belief".
Scientology
Do they have much of a presence here?
They have a branch office up in Auckland at the former Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design building in Grafton, the last census counted 321 Scientologists although they claim to have 3000-5000 followers here. So they dont have much of a presence here, but still too much
I've met a few people from this doomsday cult. Pretty out there.
That wiki article got more nuts the further I read. How people still believe after all those failed prophecies is beyond me, and the idea that this group demands young female members meets Korean beauty standards is even crazier. Thanks for the share.
Yeah it's amazing especially meeting people who have likely never even been to Korea yet they are caught up in this thing.
there are a lot of weird and small cults in NZ.
Oh there is the business roundtable or whatever they are calling themselves these days.
They merged with the NZ Institute and collectively they call themselves the NZ Initiative now. You'll see them in media quite often being quoted as though they're presenting a consensus of experts in things rather than promulgating the desires of the fairly extreme idealogues they've always been.