Cult

Germany plans talks with Chile over site tied to cult led by abusive German preacher

The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schaefer, an evangelical preacher who was later jailed for sexually abusing children.

|ByREUTERS
The name of Villa Baviera, formerly Colonia Dignidad, is engraved on a stone at the settlement created by German immigrants that served as a secret prison during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990), on the outskirts of Parral, Chile, July 20, 2025.
Elazar Rumpler, a senior leader within haredi cult Lev Tahor, appearing in the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing in 2020; illustrative.

Jerusalem court sends senior Lev Tahor cult leader Elazar Rumpler to prison in child abuse case

Elazar Rumpler, a Lev Tahor haredi cult leader, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay a total of NIS 22,000 in fines and compensation for assaulting a 10-year-old child.

|ByJAMES GENN
Minors rescued in Colombia from the Lev Tahor sect.

Colombian authorities, Interpol rescue 17 minors from ultra-Orthodox Lev Tahor sect

Five of the minors had an Interpol Yellow Notice, used in cases of missing persons and human trafficking. The Lev Tahor victims were nationals from the United States, Canada, and Guatemala.

|ByTOBIAS HOLCMAN
Forensic experts and homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), collect samples from exhumed bodies of suspected followers of a religious cult buried in shallow graves in Kwa Binzaro village, located on the outskirts of Malindi, in Kenya, August 28, 2025.

Kenya exhumes 32 bodies as outcry grows over starvation cult deaths

Kenya linked the bodies discovered in to the same Christian sect blamed for the deaths of over 400 people in the nearby Shakahola Forest in 2023.

|ByREUTERS

Kenyan police probe Christian cult after discovery of over a dozen graves

"Personally I have visited about 18 children's graves," Mikali told a local TV station. She did not say how she knew the graves contained the remains of children.

APRIL 21, 2023ByREUTERS
Christianity, illustrative

Jacob’s Ladder Festival is back and better than ever

The festival, dubbed “Israel’s Friendliest Music Festival,” will take place March 24-25 at Kfar Blum’s Pastoral Hotel in the Upper Galilee.

MARCH 12, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
SHIRAN SHAHAR BOREK

Putin fires official who called Chabad a 'neo-pagan cult'

Putin did not specify why he dismissed Alexei Pavlov from his role as assistant secretary of Russia's security council.

JANUARY 22, 2023BySAM HALPERN
Thousands of Shluchim pose for a “class picture” outside Chabad World Headquarters

'Christian' missionary cult targets J'lem kids with party - report

The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles passed out flyers for a "fun night of games and discussion" last week.

DECEMBER 25, 2022BySAM HALPERN
Members of Unification Sanctuary Church attend a sermon by Hyung Jin Sean Moon, a South Korean-American local pastor and co-founder of Unification Sanctuary Church, after praying for the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump in Greeley, Pennsylvania, US.