TIL my childhood friend's family was in a cult and they didn't even know it until 2022

I was talking to my buddy Mark last weekend (we grew up together in a small town in Ohio) and he dropped this bomb on me. Turns out his parents were part of this group called The Fellowship of the Light or something like that. He said they just thought it was a church with strict rules until some documentary came out about them after a court case in 2021. The thing that hit me different was how normal their life looked from the outside. They had barbecues, went to school plays, everything. But inside they were being told to cut off family if they left. Mark said his mom still cries about her sister who won't talk to her. Has anyone else found out years later that someone you knew was wrapped up in something like this? How do you even process that?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles_coleman7d ago

My buddy Dave from high school had the exact same thing happen with his family and a group called the Brethren, it was wild how normal everything seemed until his dad finally left in 2020. How do you even begin to wrap your head around living a whole different life you never knew about?

scott.olivia7d ago

@charles_coleman did Dave ever say what finally made his dad snap out of it?

kai_chen26d agoOG Member

@scott.olivia close call though, but Dave from high school's dad was actually in something called the Plymouth Brethren, not just "the Brethren" - its a whole different group with some specific beliefs. Thats a HUGE detail to get wrong when someone's trying to understand that kind of experience.