thursday 13: products associated with cults/questionable organizations

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Some of these hold current connections, others were connected at some time in their history. And some are harder to substantiate.

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1. Celestial Seasonings tea

The tea brand was founded in 1969, reaching success early with the release of their Sleepytime tea just three years later. To this day, it is the most profitable tea company in the North America. However, the co-founder Mo Siegel used a controversial book as the foundational inspiration for the company, using it for everything from the creation of the company’s name to marketing quotes to company practices. The Urantia Book was published in 1955 by an anonymous author. Purportedly, this author received messages from aliens about the true nature of the universe. It’s important to note that this book was written as a true accounting, a theosophical writing. Not a satire or fictional story. It is widely believed that the author was actually William Sadler, a movement leader and psychiatrist whose beliefs and books were deeply rooted in white supremacy and the practice of eugenics. For his part, Siegel left Celestial Seasonings in 2002 to devote himself to leading the Urantia Foundation

2. The Yellow Deli

The Yellow Deli is a franchise with locations across both Canada and the United States. On the surface, it seems like an innocent cafe that harkens back to the hippie era. However, if one delves beneath that unassuming surface, there is much more to discover. In reality, it is owned and operated by The Twelve Tribes, employing only members of the Tribes. This is a religious movement that has faced a slew of allegations of anti-Semitism, child labor, white supremacy, homophobia, misogyny, and slavery. Members must follow extremely strict rules that affect how they live and love, how they rear children. Everything is done on a community basis, setting up a system that has traits of indentured servitude. In recent years, the group has been accused of rampant child sex abuse.

3. Oneida silverware

One of the most popular brands of silverware, Oneida has its roots in a “utopian” cult that existed in and around Oneida, New York in the 19th century. The Oneida Community was a commune founded by John Humprey Noyes, practicing communalism as well as mutual criticism, polyamory, male sexual continence, and an experiment known as Oneida stirpiculture… the planned conception, birthing, and rearing of 58 children within the community. The silverware became one of the major industries of the community, continuing to this day, long after the community itself has dissolved.

4. The Washington Times & sushi

The newspaper, well known to be an extremely conservative-leaning paper, is owned by the controversial Unification Church. Also known as the Moonies. The church was originally founded by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, Korea. After Moon’s death in 2012, his wife Hak Ja Han took the helm, the pair still holding the title of “True Parents” to followers. The church is known for its mass wedding ceremonies and has been accused of hustling college students, recruiting them and using them as exploitable labor in a variety of industries. In addition to owning The Times, the Moonies at one point owned at least 1/3 of the American fishing industry and 50% of all wholesale sushi within the US.

Another connection of note: Hyung Jin (Sean) Moon is the youngest son of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. He is also the pastor/founder of the controversial Rod of Iron Ministries. This is the group that was accused of organizing the insurrection. It is known that the church was present and involved in the insurrection on that day, regardless of their role in the organization. They are the church known for their inclusion of AR-15s in their religious practices, Pastor Moon wearing a crown of bullets for their rituals.

5. Newsweek magazine

This one has ties to the aforementioned Moonies, the link through David Jang. Jang was a former Moonie who founded a religious movement/cult known as The Community in 1992. The Community, an extremist Christian-based group, maintains strong links with the digital company IBT Media, which itself has been fraught with legal issues. And IBT Media bought Newsweek in 2013, separating from it in 2018. Jang has established multiple organizations across Korea, Japan, China, and the Unite States, to include the evangelical school Olivet University in San Francisco and the online news platform Christian Today. However, Jang has denied that he co-founded IBT Media despite strong evidence to the contrary. It was suspected, supported by much evidence found during a raid in 2018 by the Manhattan DA’s office, that IBT Media funneled money from Newsweek to Olivet University, securing loans with falsified documents. It is also believed that students from Olivet being forced to work for little to no pay for IBT media.

6. Tony Alamo jackets

Think the 1980s. Think Michael Jackson in Bad, his black bedazzled jacket made famous. That’s a Tony Alamo. Those jackets have made a comeback in recent years, seen on Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, and more. All pieces made by a cult leader. The cult began in the late 60s, Alama and his wife targeting unhomed LA residents. He offered them food and shelter, using theatrical sermons and music to draw in members, expanding to struggling actors and musicians. There was just one catch… members had to give over everything they owned to Tony Alamo. His members became indentured servants, most working up to 14 or more hours a day in Alamo-owned factories located on Alamo’s compound. Alamo instituted a system of total control over his followers, not just financially but in all aspects of their lives. Punishments for disobedience were often savage and frequent. He also gathered young girls about him, groomed them, and sexually abused them.

7. Acellus learning platform

The platform was the leading online education tool during the pandemic, including here in Hawai’i for my youngest. In fact, it was our Department of Education that exposed it for what it was. Parents and teachers, including myself, began reporting pervasive content of false/incorrect information, blatant racism, and misogyny within the curriculum. As it turns out, Acellus and its parent company (International Academy of Science, which is unaccredited) are owned by Roger Billings. Billings is a self-proclaimed scientist/entrepreneur who is also the leader of an off-shoot, and disavowed, of the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ in Zion. The group is a polygamist community, with allegations of forced partnerships, forced family separations, child abuse, child sex abuse, forced labor, and savage/violent punishments. One of the main locations for the three Zion communities is an underground cave/bunker, which is also where Acellus is believed to be headquartered. According to former members, members are forced to sleep in bunk beds and work for no pay.

8. Narconon International

The substance abuse program treats its patients with therapy techniques that are unproven by science, often not just counterproductive but even harmful. The program is run by the Church of Scientology, basing its therapies on vitamins, exercise, and saunas. Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, believed (contrary to scientific proof) that drug residues were stored in the fatty tissues of the body. He believed the cure to addiction was to cleanse the body of the residues using the aforementioned therapies. However, there have been multiple deaths associated with the Narconon facilities, where patients are given toxic doses of niacin, which is a B vitamin that can lead to liver disease/failure when ingested in large amounts over time.

9. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

The unassuming breakfast cereal was developed at an experimental sanitarium run by the Seventh-Day Adventists. Dr. John Kellogg used an holistic approach with his patients, using them as guinea pigs for a wide-range of experiments and therapies. He asked his brother William to help him develop a nutritious and vegetarian food to meet the needs of his patients. But it went beyond just cereal for the brothers. The two were deeply involved in the study of eugenics, as well as a creating a severe way of life for the sanitarium’s patients. Dr. Kellogg believed he’d found the cure for any and all ailments, and it involved extreme practices. Patients were required to chew every bite of food 40 times, as well as take vows of celibacy. The were also forced to submit to daily sessions of electrical currents applied to the skin, using repurposed telephone parts.

10. Yogi tea

This popular tea brand was founded by followers of Yogi Bhajan, who was the head of the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO). 3HO is a religious movement that combines Sikh religious traditions with Kundalini yoga and other New Age practices. The Yogi tea brand is just one business under the 3HO umbrella, with a number of ashrams, yoga centers, and other businesses. However, the movement is also associated with a number of dark practices and issues, to include sexual misconduct, forced labor, abuse, manipulation, forced familial separation, and exploitation. It is thought to be more invasive than isolated incidents but part of a systemic issue of abuse.

11. Shen Yun Performing Arts

Shen Yun is comprised of eight troupes, their performances touted as based on traditional Chinese culture. They often perform here in Hawai’i, and it is only recently that I learned of their deep cult connections. They are owned and operated by Falun Gong, now globally based in Dragon Springs, a massive compound outside Deerpark, New York. It is a movement with beliefs based on anti-evolution, rejection of modern medicine, homophobia, and misogyny, Falun Gong is ultra-conservative, also owning the politically far-right The Epoch Times that is well-known for promoting debunked conspiracy theories. The ads for Shen Yun have often been accused of being misleading, creating beautiful visuals of dance without alluding to the actual content of the performance, the heavily religiopolitical propaganda that acts as an advertisement for the Falun Gong group. As someone who has seen the ads an average of six times a day for months, I can attest to the lack of inclusion of the content.

12. Loving Hut restaurants

This is an interesting vegan chain, with locations all over the world: Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, North America, and Oceania. Every restaurant is independently owned and operated and with differing business models. Some of the restaurants are styled as fast food while others are fast casual, even full service. Also interesting are that they have different menus, although the headquarters has a guide which lists ingredients and classes them as “vegan,” “non vegan,” or “avoid.” One commonality is that most of the restaurants air a single channel in their dining areas, Supreme Master TV, which broadcasts “24 hours of positive news a day.” “Supreme Master” refers to Ching Hai, a Vietnamese-born British woman who is the leader of the Guanyin Famen (Quan Yin Method) movement. Every Loving Hut is owned by one of her devotees, and she has been accused of abuse of power in the way she uses the franchises and their owners’ devotion to her to force them to recruit new members.

13. Kahr Arms

This one is another with Moonie ties, the company founded in 1995 by Justin Moon, the son of Sun Myung Moon. The company produces small firearms that many NYPD officers use as backup weapons, referring to them as Moonie guns. Since its founding, it has absorbed several other well-known companies such as Thompson Auto-Ordnance and Magnum Research, the latter making the famous Desert Eagle. This Moon has not travelled far from his Unification Church connections, as the chairman of Tongil Group. The Tongil Group is part of the Unification Church umbrella, a business entity.