Educational tool only. All groups exist on a spectrum of control. Individual experiences vary. Based on publicly available reports, ex-member accounts, court records, and expert analyses — not medical or legal advice.
61 group profiles for organisations whose documented founding falls in the 1960s. Sorted by CLCI score, descending.
Founded by David 'Moses' Berg in 1968. From 1976 to 1987 practised 'Flirty Fishing' (using sex for evangelism and recruitment) and published 'Mo Letters' explicitly endorsing sexual contact between adults and children. Reorganised as 'The Family International' in 2004.
Australian sect led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne (1921–2019), centred on properties near Lake Eildon, Victoria. Acquired ≈14 children illegally in the 1970s, dyed their hair identical blonde, dressed them identically, and dosed them with LSD. Subject of the 2016 documentary 'The Family'.
Founded by Tony Alamo (Bernie Lazar Hoffman) and his wife Susan in 1969. Tony Alamo was convicted in 2009 of multiple federal counts of transporting underage girls across state lines for sexual purposes; sentenced to 175 years.
Isolated Christian community of ≈600 in Haupiri, West Coast, New Zealand. Founded 1969 by Hopeful Christian (Neville Cooper). Multiple 2022–24 NZ Employment Court rulings have found that members were illegally treated as unpaid labour from age 6, awarding back-wages.
South Korean apocalyptic Christian organisation founded 1964 by Ahn Sahng-hong (1918–1985). Identified Ahn as the 'Second Coming Christ' after his death. From 1985 led by Zhang Gil-jah (born 1943), identified as 'Heavenly Mother God'. Approximately 3 million claimed members across 175 countries. Multiple deceptive-recruitment lawsuits in the US and South Korea 2014–2024.
South Korean Evangelical Baptist Church / 'Salvation Sect' (Guwonpa) founded in 1962 by Kwon Shin-chan and Yoo Byung-eun. The Yoo family controlled a sprawling corporate-religious empire whose subsidiary Chonghaejin Marine operated the MV Sewol — the ferry that capsized 16 April 2014 killing 304 (250 of them schoolchildren on a class trip). Yoo Byung-eun was found dead in June 2014 while a fugitive; sons Yoo Dae-gyun and Yoo Hyuk-kee subsequently convicted on embezzlement charges.
Ukrainian-origin Hasidic dynasty (Skvyra, Kyiv Oblast) centred in the village of New Square, Rockland County, NY. ~8,000 residents on a single hereditary-Rebbe campus. Among the most insular Hasidic communities in North America.
Political-ideological organisation that evolved from the late Lyndon LaRouche's Marxist origins through a series of name changes (US Labor Party, NCLC, LaRouche PAC). Documented decades of intense internal control, financial demands, and legal trouble. Founder died 2019; offshoots continue under his widow Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Schiller Institute).
Independent church in Sterling VA led by Star Scott. Subject of Washington Post 2008 'Lost Souls' investigation documenting severance of family members from those who leave.
Korean-origin Christian movement founded by Ahn Sahng-hong (1964) believing him to be the Second Coming. Current 'Mother God' is Zhang Gil-jah. Aggressive global recruitment using initial cover as 'Bible study' or community-service group.
1960s-70s San Francisco-founded Christian-esoteric monastic NRM (1968 founding by Father Paul Blighton, b. 1907, d. 1974) blending Western esoteric traditions, claimed Egyptian Coptic apostolic succession, and Christian mysticism. Members ('Brown Brothers and Sisters') wore brown monastic robes, lived in priories across the US, and trained for ordained ministry. Peak ~3,000 members. Master Andrew (Daniel Dixon) succession in 1978 + sustained 1980s sexual abuse + 1988 dissolution into Vincent Rossi's Christ the Saviour Brotherhood (Russian-Orthodox-claimed jurisdiction). Janja Lalich's *Bounded Choice* (2004) is the canonical academic case study.
Australian charismatic Christian community led by Howard Carter (1968–90, defunct). Practised shepherding-movement personal authority, communal economy, and political activism. Collapsed in 1990 after Carter's adultery revelations.
Healthy, Happy, Holy Organisation (3HO) and the Kundalini Yoga lineage founded by Yogi Bhajan / Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (1969). Multiple post-2020 investigations (Olive Branch, Premka Pamela Saharah Dyson memoir) documented systematic sexual abuse by the founder and senior teachers.
Korean-origin campus-focused Christian missionary organisation founded in 1961 in Gwangju, South Korea, by Samuel Lee (Chang-woo Lee) and Sarah Barry. The organisation built an international campus-targeted missionary apparatus and operates as a closed-discipleship structure under appointed shepherds. Documented internal patterns include intensive one-to-one 'shepherding' relationships, leadership-directed marriage practices, financial expectations on students, and family-displacement reports across the long-running ex-member testimony archive.
Catholic ecclesial institute founded 1964 by Father Alfonso María Durán Ariza (1922-2009). Approximately 200 members at peak across multiple countries. Suppressed by the Vatican in 2007 following an apostolic visitation that documented cult-like coercive-control practices; founder Durán removed from leadership and ordered to a life of prayer and penance. Smaller but well-documented case in the Catholic ecclesial-movement-as-cult research literature.
Political-therapeutic movement developed by the late Fred Newman (d. 2011) blending Marxism-Leninism, Wittgensteinian philosophy, and 'social therapy' group practice. Affiliated with the All Stars Project youth programmes, the Castillo Theatre, and various third-party political ventures including the Independence Party of New York.
John MacArthur (b. 1939) is the founding pastor of Grace Community Church (Sun Valley, California, ~8,000 weekly attendance) and one of the most-influential Reformed celebrity-pastors in late-20th and early-21st century American evangelicalism. The Master's Seminary, Master's University, Grace to You media network, and a global affiliate-church network extend Grace's reach. Documented coercive-control patterns include the Eileen Gray custody-pressure case, the David Gray child-murder case (2010), elder-board discipline of women pressured to return to abusive husbands, COVID-era defiance litigation, and a multi-year *Roys Report* + *Christianity Today* investigation series 2022–2024.
Christian movement growing out of Watchman Nee's 'Little Flock' and developed by Witness Lee in the USA. Distinctive 'pray-reading' practice, hierarchical structure tied to Living Stream Ministry, and one-recognised-church-per-locality theology.
Independent traditional-Catholic movement holding that the post-Vatican-II popes are not legitimate. Specific high-control sedevacantist organisations (CMRI in Idaho, SSPV in Brooklyn) exhibit documented insularity and severance patterns.
British-origin religious movement (1966–74) led by Robert and Mary Ann de Grimston. Combined Scientology-derived practices with apocalyptic Christian Satanism. Disbanded in 1974 following Mary Ann's split into the Foundation Faith of God.
1960s–70s southern California occult commune deriving from Aleister Crowley's OTO. The 1969 'Boy in the Box' incident — in which a child was kept in a small wooden box at the Lodge's desert property — produced criminal convictions and the Lodge's collapse.
Religious-Zionist militant organisation founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in Brooklyn, New York (1968). Built around the slogan 'Never Again' and a combination of vigilante street action, anti-Soviet-Jewry advocacy, and increasingly virulent anti-Arab political theology. The FBI in 2001 listed JDL among 'right-wing terrorist groups' active in the United States. Kahane was assassinated in November 1990; his Israeli successor parties (Kach and Kahane Chai) were outlawed by Israel after the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre by Kahane disciple Baruch Goldstein.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1966) in New York. Famous for Hare Krishna street chanting and Krishna devotion. Devastated by 1970s–80s Gurukula child abuse later acknowledged and adjudicated.
American Trotskyist organisation founded by James Robertson (1928–2019) in 1966 after his 1962 expulsion from the Socialist Workers Party. Now formally constituted as the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist), the ICL's American section retains the original 'Spartacist League' name. Built on a doctrinaire reading of Trotsky's 1938 Transitional Program and a distinctive 'Robertsonite' interpretation of revolutionary history; documented internal-control patterns include intense daily commitment, severance of dissenting members, and public denunciation of breakaway factions. Multiple substantive ex-member accounts published since the 1980s; the group's organisational practices have been repeatedly compared to cult-recovery patterns by both right-wing and left-wing observers.
British-founded Buddhist community (originally FWBO, 1967) led by Dennis Lingwood / Sangharakshita until his 2018 death. The Adhisthana centre and the Triratna Order have publicly acknowledged Sangharakshita's history of sexual abuse of male members.
Indian-import NRM founded 1960 by Hans Ji Maharaj as 'Divine Light Mission' (DLM); from 1966 led by his teenage son Prem Pal Singh Rawat (born 1957), known as 'Guru Maharaj Ji' or 'Maharaji'. Rapid 1971-1973 US expansion centred on Rawat's status as a teenage divine-figure. After 1980s membership decline, Rawat systematically rebranded the organisation (Elan Vital 1980s, The Prem Rawat Foundation 2001, Words of Peace Global 2003+) to evade cult reputation. Documented coercive-control patterns including 'Knowledge' initiation under non-disclosure and exit barriers.
Commercial 'Kabbalah for Everyone' organisation founded by Philip and Karen Berg (1965, modern form 1984). Distinct from traditional Kabbalah scholarship; sells red strings, Zohar sets, and study packages. Celebrity endorsements (Madonna, Britney Spears) drove 1990s–2000s expansion.
Vishva Hindu Parishad ('World Hindu Council', VHP) is a Hindu-nationalist religious-political organisation founded on 29 August 1964 in Mumbai under the auspices of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Major Sangh Parivar (RSS-family) organisation responsible for coordinating Hindu religious leaders into Sangh political projects. Substantial documented role in the December 1992 Babri Masjid demolition campaign and the resulting nationwide communal violence (~2,000 killed); ongoing role in the post-2014 Sangh-aligned BJP-government era Hindutva political mobilisation. The Liberhan Commission Report (2009) and the multiple post-Babri criminal proceedings (2020 acquittals of all named accused) are the canonical investigative record.
The Newman Tendency / All Stars Project is the post-2011 continuation of Fred Newman's (1935–2011) NYC-based social-therapy political-psychotherapeutic movement. After Newman's July 2011 death from cancer, the organisational apparatus continues primarily through: (a) the All Stars Project (founded 1981, the youth-development front organisation with substantial corporate-foundation funding from Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and others); (b) the Institute for Social Therapy and Research (NYC clinical-training arm); (c) the East Side Institute (post-2011 academic-affiliate think-tank); and (d) various Newman-method affiliated therapists nationally. The Independence Party of New York, which Newman built into a major NY ballot-line through the 1990s–2000s, formally split from the Newman organisation post-2011. Tourish + Wohlforth 'On the Edge' (2000) and Dennis King's reporting are the canonical critical sources.
Yogananda-derived organisation founded by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters, d. 2013). Operates Ananda Village (California) and global centres. Defendant in 1998 Bertolucci v. Walters jury verdict for sexual misconduct.
Historical Trotskyist sect founded by J. Posadas (1962). Distinctive doctrine combining Trotskyism with UFO contact theories. Small surviving network.
Korean new religion derived from Kang Il-Sun's Jeungsanism (founded 1969 by Park Han-Gyeong). Distinctive cosmology centred on cosmic 'reordering of heaven and earth' (Daesoon). Substantial financial demands documented for senior members.
Umbrella entry for the various Hawaiian and Polynesian-located guru-led communities. Specific named cases (Source Family Hawaii era, etc.) covered separately.
Modern continuation entry for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founded 1966 by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in New York. Covers 2020s context: 2024 Bangladesh persecution of ISKCON members, ongoing post-Children-of-Krishna gurukula-abuse litigation, GBC governance reforms, and continuing critique of guru-disciple authority structure.
Umbrella for 1970s Jesus Movement / Jesus Freaks groups beyond named entries (Children of God, The Way International, Maranatha already covered).
Tracks ongoing 2024–2026 Triratna Buddhist Community reform process post-Sangharakshita reckoning. See primary Triratna entry.
Brazilian Pentecostal church founded by David Miranda (1962). Distinctive strict modesty code (no alcohol, smoking, dancing, jewellery). Substantial Latin American and diaspora presence.
Yogananda-derived intentional community in California (founded 1968) by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters). Subject of Bertolucci v. Walters 1998 jury verdict.
Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America (originally a 1960s US movement) — mostly low-control with substantial Vatican approval. Specific high-control sub-circles around individual charismatic priests have been documented.
Loose network of Calvary Chapel-affiliated churches founded by Chuck Smith. The 'Moses Model' of strong senior-pastor authority has produced documented abuse cases in some congregations (notably Bob Coy / Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale).
American esoteric religion founded by Paul Twitchell (1965) teaching 'Soul Travel' and 'Light and Sound of God'. Successive 'Mahanta' leaders. Headquartered in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Major global Vipassana retreat network in the S.N. Goenka tradition (founded 1969). Distinctive 10-day silent retreats with strict structure. Mostly low-control, some documented retreat-distress cases.
Small Bahá'í offshoot following Mason Remey's 1960 succession claim against the Universal House of Justice. Declared covenant-breakers by mainstream Faith.
Major Indian intentional community (1968) based on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa ('The Mother'). UNESCO-supported. Mainstream low-moderate control.
Mainstream international disability-support community network founded by Jean Vanier (1964). 2020 and 2023 investigations confirmed Vanier's systematic sexual abuse of women over six decades.
Symbolic-atheist organisation founded by Anton LaVey (1966) in San Francisco. Largely individualistic philosophy of self-empowerment using Satanic imagery; not theistic. Mostly low-control; included as Pagan/Wiccan-spectrum reference point.
Rastafari Mansion founded by Vernon Carrington ('Prophet Gad', 1968). Most globally diffuse Rastafari group; Bob Marley was a member.
Intentional community in Findhorn, Scotland (founded 1962). Foundational New Age centre with substantial educational and ecological programmes. Voluntary participation; low control. Notable historical incidents include the 2021 financial crisis and the closure of the Universal Hall.
Major Taiwanese Buddhist humanitarian organisation founded by Master Cheng Yen (1966). Substantial global disaster-relief operations. Mostly low-control with strong volunteer-commitment culture.
Cross-reference entry — see primary Findhorn Foundation entry.
Mainstream secular intentional community in Virginia (founded 1967) based on B.F. Skinner's 'Walden Two' novel. Voluntary low-control reference.
Mainstream older MLM founded by Mary Kay Ash (1963). Less coercive than newer wellness MLMs but still produces majority distributor losses per FTC analysis.
California-based human-potential retreat centre founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price (1962). Pioneering 1960s consciousness-research venue. Mainstream low-control retreat institution.
Taiwanese-origin Humanistic Buddhist organisation founded by Hsing Yun (1967). Substantial global temple network and Buddha's Light International Association. Mainstream low-control.
Alex Sanders / Maxine Sanders-derived Wiccan tradition (1960s). Slightly more ceremonial than Gardnerian. Mainstream low-control.
Latin American Catholic base-community movement (Comunidades Eclesiales de Base) emerging from 1960s liberation theology. Mainstream voluntary Catholic tradition.
Mainstream Jewish Renewal Movement (Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi lineage) and Romemu (NYC). Egalitarian, mystical, deeply low-control. Included as Judaism-spectrum reference.
Open-membership religious organisation that ordains anyone, online, free of charge. Used principally by people who want to legally officiate weddings without belonging to a traditional denomination. Effectively no doctrinal or behavioural demands.
Foundations preserving and disseminating the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), who famously dissolved the Order of the Star (1929) and rejected all spiritual authority including his own.
Modern Druidry — Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), British Druid Order, Druid Network. Very low-control voluntary tradition.
Liberal religious tradition (1961 merger of Unitarian and Universalist denominations). Among the lowest-control religious organisations globally. No required doctrine.