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East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2024 Reviving “Cult”: A Qualitative Analysis of a Female-led Cultic Sect Olivia Summers East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd  Part of the Sociology of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Summers, Olivia, "Reviving “Cult”: A Qualitative Analysis of a Female-led Cultic Sect" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4388. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4388 This Thesis - unrestricted is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact digilib@etsu.edu.  Reviving “Cult”: A Qualitative Analysis of a Female-led Cultic Sect ________________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology East Tennessee State University  In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Sociology ______________________ by Olivia Claire Summers  May 2024 _____________________ Martha Copp, Ph.D., Co-Chair Joseph Baker, Ph.D., Co-Chair Candace Bright Hall-Wurst, Ph.D.    Keywords: cult, philosemitism, religion, church, female-led, tragedy appropriation 2  ABSTRACT Reviving “Cult”: A Qualitative Analysis of a Female-led Cultic Sect by Olivia Claire Summers This research analyzes the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOF), a female-led Evangelical church that social scientists have not yet studied. My thesis explores how a female leader operates within a patriarchal space and why WOF owns a Holocaust Museum. I conducted content analysis of the church and museum websites, Google reviews, and visited the museum in person. My research highlights the limitations of current taxonomies of religion in sociology. I address this oversight, argue for the re-introduction of “cult” as an analytical term, and propose a rubric for cult identification. I suggest that WOF is a sectarian cult with similar features to other female-led cults. I also find that the group expresses philosemitism through the museum and the tragedy of the Holocaust to pursue church legitimacy. I thus expand on current understandings of philosemitism and posit the concept of tragedy appropriation to describe narrative theft at the group level.     3           Copyright 2024 by Olivia Claire Summers All Rights Reserved  4  TABLE OF CONTENTS  ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................... 6 Cults and Classification ............................................................................................................... 7 Primary Traits ............................................................................................................................ 10 Secondary Traits ........................................................................................................................ 15 Female-Led Cultic Groups ........................................................................................................ 21 Philosemitism ............................................................................................................................ 28 Tragedy Appropriation .............................................................................................................. 32 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 2. RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 38 Word of Faith Google Reviews ................................................................................................. 38 Pro-WOF ................................................................................................................................... 38 Anti-WOF.................................................................................................................................. 45 The Holocaust Museum Google Reviews ................................................................................. 47 CHAPTER 3. CLASSIFICATION AND FEMALE-LED CULTS ............................................. 49 Primary Traits ............................................................................................................................ 49 Secondary Traits ........................................................................................................................ 55 Female-Led Cult Characteristics ............................................................................................... 60 5  CHAPTER 4. PHILOSEMITISM, TRAGEDY APPROPRIATION, AND EMOTIONAL INCONGRUENCE ....................................................................................................................... 64 Philosemitism ............................................................................................................................ 64 Tragedy Appropriation .............................................................................................................. 68 Emotional Incongruence ........................................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 73 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 78 VITA ............................................................................................................................................. 86     6  CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW  Word of Faith Fellowship (WOF) is an influential, extremist religious group. The church has thousands of members, many of whom live within a heavily guarded compound overseen by their leader, Jane Whaley (Weiss and Mohr 2020:24, 376). Whaley and other church leaders, have been accused of child abuse, trafficking, torture, false imprisonment and the hiring of contract killers (Weiss and Mohr 2020:25, 221, 241, 363). Despite the severity and frequency of these allegations, there has been no academic research conducted on the WOF.  This thesis aims to examine the social mechanisms of WOF using qualitative methods. More specifically, I determined how to classify WOF, studied how they operate, and considered whether they utilize philosemitism and tragedy appropriation to accomplish group goals. This research included the interactions present between this group and outward social systems, such as government institutions and other religions. WOF’s Holocaust Museum was the primary physical site studied, as it was open to the public. I examined the utility of this site to the church and attempted to uncover why they chose this particular topic to present to the public in a museum format. Additionally, I investigated the features of WOF that are unique compared to other similar groups. These characteristics included but are not limited to having a female leader and the possible subjugation of men in an otherwise largely patriarchal culture and religion. These research questions are useful to the sociological study of religion at large, as they challenge mainstream conceptions and classifications of religious groups. Due to the extreme rarity of matriarchal groups, this research bolsters sociological understanding of this uncommon phenomenon. Lastly, by exploring the mechanisms for social control within this group, I provide needed context and information for social programs that seek to provide support and resources for people who have been victimized by cultic groups. 7  Due to their features, I argue WOF should be classified as both a sectarian group and a cult, rather than a new religious movement. Because of the lack of research on female-led cults, I provide an analysis of such groups to give context for the social mechanisms present in WOF through a gender critical lens. Lastly, I assert that the Holocaust Museum, owned and operated by WOF, came about largely due to American Evangelical philosemitism, and represents a broader process I term tragedy appropriation.  Cults and Classification  For decades, sociologists have largely regarded the term “cult” to be dead, useless and harmful (Richardson 1996:30; Dawson 1996:199). Researchers have suggested the term is pejorative and used to discriminate against minority religions (Richardson 1996:35-36). Additionally, due to the popular overuse and misuse of “cult,” sociologists suggest the term has become too nebulous to be functional (Richardson 1996:30). Though sociologists should be concerned with the negative social consequences of labels, I argue that abolishing the term cult is detrimental to both victims and researchers.   Researchers have proposed that “cult” has negative implications, and should thus be discarded (Richardson 1996:30). This reasoning is problematic. Social scientists are faced with studying many phenomena that are, by nature, unpleasant. Denying the realities of harmful outcomes is disingenuous. I argue that cults are indeed abusive, and to reject this reality is harmful to victims of abusive religious groups. To illustrate this point, I will draw from the “Power and Control Wheel,” a resource used to identify abuse, pictured below (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Additionally, downplaying abuse within cults and removing the pejorative label means denying cult victims, a marginalized social group, access to resources and support.  8   Figure 1. The Power and Control Wheel / https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/power-and-control/   Interestingly, the majority of sociologists who argue against the use of “cult” did not ask victims how they felt about this label in their studies (Almendros 2011; Dawson 1996:x; Richardson 1994; 1996:30). Many victims of cults choose to use the term to describe their experience with their group (Hassan 2020; Smithson 1994; Zenovich 2023). While I do not necessarily suggest sociologists should always refer to groups based solely upon how they or ex-9  members identify themselves, retracting and prescribing new labels without consulting survivors of dangerous social groups can be harmful. Members of the social groups we study deserve to have some input into how the terms we are using as academics may affect them.  Another issue with the removal of “cult” from the academic lexicon is that dissimilar groups are placed within the same category. This leads to useless classification. Many academics use “new religious movement” to describe cults as well as other new religions (Almendros 2011; Barker 1995; Dawson 1996:x). This is problematic; a plethora of research meant to counter the claim that cults have negative social consequences have mixed their samples with cultic groups and other new religious movements, which are not all abusive (Almendros 2011; Hall 1996). As a result, this research is lacking in comparability and validity. Sociologists do a disservice to the academic community and the public by improperly labeling and conflating social groups.  Another problem with classifying all cults as new religious movements is that not all cults are new religions; some are sectarian groups. Sects are groups that break off from an already established religion (Stark and Bainbridge 1979). For example, The Branch Davidians were a cult led by David Koresh that separated from the Davidians (Yeaman 2023), a sect that split off from the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Pitts 2000). Confining cults to the new religious movement category further complicates an already murky classification of religious groups. When studying cults, researchers should consider whether they are a sectarian cult or a new religious movement cult.   Some scholars find the widespread colloquial use of the term "cult" problematic; this has led to claims that the term has become so ubiquitous that it has lost its meaning (Richardson 1996:30). Ironically, many of the academics that suggest not using the term “cult” still tag their research papers with the term or use it as a synonym within their work, suggesting that, in 10  practice, it does work well as a label (Almendros 2011; Dawson 1996). Additionally, many have tried to provide further classifications of new religious movements to paint some as having pejorative, cult-like traits to distinguish from non-cultic new religious movements (Almendros 2011; Wallis 1996). Despite these efforts, these designations often fail to gain traction among other scholars. This leaves sociologists of religion stuck in a cycle of reinventing the wheel and resorting to the use of "cult" in their work anyway. This suggests that eschewing “cult” to describe abusive religious groups among scholars may be largely performative and impractical.   I suggest that academics categorize cults as separate religious communities with distinctive characteristics. I propose using both basic traits—abusive traits which are necessary for classifying cults—and subsidiary traits—which are characteristically prevalent in cults but not necessary features—to achieve this.  Primary Traits  Cults must have a leader that is God-like and holds ultimate authority over the group. Occasionally, some groups will have two leaders; however, even in these rare instances, one of the leaders typically serves as the primary authority figure. An example of this is Heaven’s Gate, a cult with two leaders with one holding more power (Bearak 1997). The leader(s) must be considered deific by adherents. This can be accomplished by the leader declaring themselves to be God, acting as the only or most powerful representative of God, claiming that they are the only ones who know the whole truth, possessing miraculous or supernatural abilities, or saying they are the divine reincarnation of a religious figure like Jesus Christ. This feature is necessary for a group to be considered a cult because it sets the stage for the massive power imbalance that must be present for a belief system to be abusive. Believing that the leader is god-like or is literally a god results in members being unable to question any group dynamics or rules because 11  they would, by default, be questioning their deity. Additionally, this posturing is imperative because the leaders are not able to sin or do something wrong due to their authority as the incarnation of righteousness. This allows for the proliferation of gaslighting the adherents who may begin to feel morally opposed to the leader’s actions. Importantly, cult leaders have ultimate authority which means they can change group ordinances on a whim and maintain a separate, flexible set of rules for themselves. Even if the group does use a religious text, it is secondary to the leader’s authority and can be changed or reinterpreted whenever the leader pleases. These conditions allow for the leader to have a large amount of control over their adherents, which then leads to excessive lifestyle prescriptions on cult followers. Examples of the extremes to which cult leaders can manipulate their members can include reassigning houses, changing the gender of followers, and appointing romantic or sexual partners (Ouroussoff 2006; Smithson 1994; Zenovich 2023).  For a leader to hold ultimate authority over their adherents to this degree, they must keep the group small enough that they are able to monitor their followers. For this reason, cults, unlike general religion, must always be smaller in size to maintain this level of power. Typically, if a cult begins to grow vast in numbers, the group goes through a pseudo-cult phase and may eventually dilute into a religion if it does not dissipate. During this process, the authority becomes less centralized on one person (usually after the death of the leader) and some of the lifestyle prescriptions begin to loosen. This is evident in groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; both groups began as cults but are now largely accepted as religions.   Importantly, cult leaders seek to gain complete control over individuals who join their fold. They are not interested in partial control. This means that cult leaders will not try to 12  politically lobby or otherwise try to force the general populace to follow their own rigid set of rules. This characteristic is key in delineating cults from fundamentalist groups. Fundamentalist movements, or religious groups that hold rigid and literal views of their religious texts, often attempt to exude power over the general populace using political activism to force everyone to live under their rules (Almond, Appleby, and Sivan 2003:30-32). While some fundamentalist groups are more politically passive (Baker 2017:4), they remain distinct from cults as they lack a deific leader, require fewer extreme measures of control and are thus less concentrated within a specific area. I posit that cult leaders will not participate in political activism because they are interested in ultimate, not partial control of their victims. If cult leaders do try to involve themselves in politics at all, it is likely as a strategic way to cover up their crimes or otherwise protect their group from governmental intervention. I explore this prediction in more depth in the next chapter.  Another key feature of cults is polarization. Cults must define outsiders as inferior and unworthy, viewing themselves as the good, enlightened people and non-members as evil or deceived. This trait is present in all cults and is necessary for maintaining power over adherents. Portraying the leader as the only one who truly understands right from wrong serves to build trust in the leader and decrease trust in outsiders who might have different viewpoints.   Isolation is another key component of cults. Cult leaders may use a variety of methods to isolate their members. As cults grow, many of them go to the extreme of having followers live together with the leader in a compound. This has happened in many cults, including The People’s Temple, the Manson Family and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Anon 2022; Melton 2023; Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d.). Other isolation strategies include but are not limited to the following tactics: limiting or banning certain forms of 13  media, limiting or banning contact with family or friends outside the cult, dictating adherents’ jobs or careers and telling followers that horrible things will happen if they leave the group. Leaders will always enact some form of isolation (usually multiple forms) to maintain power over their adherents.   Another crucial attribute of cult management is the loss of individuality among adherents. Cult leaders foster an atmosphere that reduces followers’ sense of self as unique individuals and instead unites them with the collective. This can be done in a variety of ways. Cult members may be required to dress in similar clothing, change their diets, or told to change their personality. Though some non-cultic religions enact rules that may pertain to some of these categories, cults do them to an extreme degree. For example, members of the Manson Family famously had the same haircut and color as well as wore the same outfits with the same color scheme (Gustin 2023). The Family, led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne, was notorious for imposing diets upon her adherents that were borderline anorexic in nature (Cusack 2017). Additionally, family members of cult victims have reported observable changes in mannerisms and personality after being indoctrinated into a cult (Enroth 1996). These strategies decrease individuality to an extreme degree that is not present in non-cult religions and allow the leader to further control followers.  Another primary attribute of cults is that their members are expected to invest large sums of time and money into the group. Like other attributes on this list, more diluted versions of this can be seen in non-cultic religions. For example, some denominations of Christianity require members to “tithe,” or give ten percent of their paycheck to their church. Cults, however, take this to the extreme and may expect to receive most if not all of their followers’ income. For example, the Love Has Won cult members were expected to give their entire salaries to their leader (Teply 2023). This strategy keeps followers dependent on their leader as they become 14  unable to decide how to spend their own money and may dissuade followers from leaving because they cannot afford to do so (Smithson 1994). Additionally, cult leaders demand large amounts of time and service from their members. For example, the Taliesin West cult members worked long grueling hours doing manual labor nearly every day (Hoffmann 1983). Cults are distinct from other forms of religion in that the cult activities are demanding to the point that they overtake the lives of the members. Occupying so much of members’ time is a tactic used to maintain control of the group; if members are constantly working then they have no time to question the leader’s authority or otherwise plan to exit the group. In addition, this further isolates the adherents as they have less time to spend with outsiders that may question the leader’s authority.  The last primary attribute of a cult is that they employ mechanisms to punish or humiliate followers. These punishments include one or more of the following items: emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Cult leaders use punishments to ensure compliance and to demean members. By demeaning their adherents, cult leaders are able to reinforce their own status as the only arbiter of good and evil and diminish the followers’ self-reliance. An example of this is The Family (formerly Children of God, founded by David Berg), in which children who broke the rules were required to stand “completely still for long periods of time while holding a Bible in their outstretched arms” (Joiner 2023). If they moved during this time, they were physically assaulted (Joiner 2023). Prior to growing in size, ex-members of the Church of Scientology reported being forcibly imprisoned as a means of punishment (Mutch 2000). All things considered, a religious organization needs eight key abusive characteristics in order to be classified as a cult, as outlined in Table 1: having a god-like leader with unquestionable authority, a smaller number of adherents for increased intimacy, polarization, isolation, 15  destruction of individuality, excessive demands on time and labor, and prescribing punishments on followers. Importantly, cult leaders are distinct from fundamentalist movements in that they seek to have ultimate authority over a few people rather than passive authority from a governmental standpoint. Aside from these crucial characteristics, cults often share many secondary traits that can be helpful in identifying cultic groups. Table 1. Primary and Secondary Characteristics of Cults Primary Characteristics • Defied leader with ultimate authority over followers • Relatively small size, facilitating monitoring and control • Seeking complete control over followers’ lives • Polarization between followers and outsiders • Isolation from outsiders • Loss of individuality  • Monopolization of followers’ resources • Mechanisms of punishment and humiliation   Secondary Characteristics  o Apocalypticism  o Extreme forms of sexuality  o In-group surveillance o Recruitment from vulnerable populations  o “Love bombing” new followers o Coerced illegal activity  o Operating a cult-sponsored business Secondary Traits  Outside of the necessary criteria for a group to be considered a cult, there are multiple supplemental traits that could be useful for cult identification. Though not all cults have these traits, they may be useful for additional identification purposes, particularly when researchers have limited access to a group to determine if they meet primary criteria. The list of secondary characteristics for cult identification is as follows: apocalypticism, extreme forms of sexuality, in-group surveillance, intentional recruitment from vulnerable populations, love bombing, coerced illegal activity, and operating a cult-sponsored business.  16  Though apocalypticism is observable in virtually every cult, I decided to categorize it as a secondary trait because belief in an apocalypse alone is not necessarily abusive. One of my main arguments for using “cult” as a concept is to use it to identify groups that are intentionally structured to perpetuate abuse by leaders; every primary trait of a cultic group thus is a form of abuse as identified by the Wheel of Power and Control. Cult leaders tend to teach members to be apocalyptic, or believe that a cataclysmic event such as the end of the world will happen within their lifetime. This tactic creates an environment of fear and urgency, which increases the likelihood of compliance with the leader’s demands. A few cults that have exhibited apocalypticism include The Branch Davidians (Pitts 2000), The Manson Family (Anon 2022), Heaven’s Gate (Zeller 2010) and the Family led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne (Cusack, 2017).  Enforced extreme forms of sexuality are another trait often present in cults. While some religions have some rules and restrictions in terms of sex, cults are distinct in that their teachings are radically opposed to outside social norms. For example, The Family cult (Formerly Children of God, founded by David Berg) taught that members must have sex with each other and that women of their group should engage in “flirty fishing,” a term used to describe using sex to proselytize (Smithson 1994). Additionally, Berg sexualized children and encouraged the sexual abuse of minors (Smithson 1994). Some cults go in the opposite direction, which consists of either limiting or outright banning sex. An example of this is the Shakers, a religious group that banned sex for all members (Stein 2009).   Another secondary trait of cultic groups is in-group surveillance. Cult leaders often encourage members to report each others’ “sins” to them. This is done to create an environment of distrust; if adherents begin to feel uncomfortable with the group and their rules, they are unable to discuss with members of their community without fear of being punished. This is done 17  to decrease the likelihood of members leaving the group and to ensure compliance. This strategy was present in the Children of God cult; David Berg made members live together to increase surveillance (Smithson 1994).  Cults often attempt to recruit from vulnerable populations. Leaders tend to seek out members of marginalized and oppressed groups as a means to maximize their potential for control. Jim Jones of The People’s Temple, for example, largely targeted black people for proselytization (VanDeCarr 2004). Children of God leader David Berg encouraged adherents to recruit new members in the waiting rooms of college counseling centers (Enroth 1996: 210).  Love bombing is another common tactic used by cult leaders to recruit and maintain membership. Love bombing means overloading someone new with attention, gifts and affection with the intention of later coercing them (Griffiths 2019). This strategy has been observed in multiple cults; in fact, the term itself was coined by Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church cult, as a way to increase membership numbers (Griffiths 2019).   Another common theme among cult leaders is that they often will coerce their followers into doing illegal activities with them or on their behalf. This is likely done to give the leader a scapegoat if legal action is taken as well as to blackmail the person if they try to leave. This has been observed in multiple cult groups, including the Manson Family, Superior Universal Alignment, and The Family, led by Amy Hamilton-Byrne (Court of Appeals of California 1976; Cusack, 2017; The Orlando Sentinel, 2003).  Lastly, cult leaders will often start a business and operate it through the cult. This is commonly done to increase the amount of power the leader holds over group members. Cult leaders who run businesses often require their followers to work for them, becoming both their religious leader and their boss. This strategy allows the leader to be directly in control of the 18  members’ pay and hours; it also diminishes followers’ communication with the outside world, avoiding the risk of outside influence on the lifestyle present within the cult. This has been observed in Teal Swan, Love Has Won, and Twin Flames Universe (Swan n.d.; Teply 2023; Zenovich 2023). Additionally, having a business provides more financial stability for the cult, allowing them to be able to afford measures to further isolate their adherents, such as starting a compound. Further, attaching a business to a religious group allows for significant tax cuts, a justification cited by the leader of the Twin Flames Universe (Zenovich 2023). To demonstrate that cults, unlike non-cultic religions, are necessarily abusive, I will reference The Wheel of Power and Control, pictured as Figure 1, a tool used to identify the presence of abuse in domestic relationships (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Scholars have conducted research that shows multiple similarities between the abuses experienced by victims of domestic violence and cults (Griffiths 2019; Wolfson 2002). The Wheel contains the following categories: coercion and threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, minimizing/denying/blaming, using children, male privilege, and economic abuse (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985).   Within the wheel, the use of coercion and threats is defined as “making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt [them]” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Some examples include the perpetrator forcing the victim to drop charges, threatening to report them to government institutions, and making them do criminal acts. This type of abuse is present in cults through the presence of a God-like leader who is able to fear-monger members who may want to leave by suggesting horrible things will happen if they do. The use of surveillance in cults is also coercive as it is used to blackmail and control members. Lastly, cult leaders’ proclivity to employ followers to commit crimes falls neatly under this category.  19   Intimidation, the next section of the wheel, is defined by “making [them] afraid by using looks, actions or gestures” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). This is present in cults through the punishment of followers who did not obey the rules. Like victims of domestic violence, cult victims are often subjected to physical forms of abuse such as assault and false imprisonment as a way to punish them for going against the perpetrators’ wishes.   The next spoke on the wheel is emotional abuse, described as “putting [them] down” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Examples include name-calling, making the victim feel bad about themselves, causing them to question their sanity/intuition, and making them feel guilty or humiliated (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Emotional abuse is present in cults through the deceptive process of love bombing and through non-physical forms of “punishment” like humiliation.   Isolation, another part of the wheel, is described as the perpetrator controlling what the victim does, who they communicate with, where they are permitted to go, what media they consume, and general limiting of involvement with the outside world (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). This section of the wheel seems to almost be written line by line to describe cults; as mentioned, isolation is a key trait in determining whether a religious group is cultic. Like domestic abusers, cult leaders control each of these aspects of their adherents’ lives to increase the control they wield over their victims.   The next part of the wheel is labeled “minimizing, denying and blaming” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Examples include blaming the victim for the abuse occurring, denying the abuse happened, or minimizing the severity of the abuse. This is present in cults through framing abuse as a necessary punishment for the “sins” of the followers, which allows cult leaders to shift blame from themselves onto their victims. Another way cult leaders 20  minimize abuse is by perpetrating it against all members of the group; this normalizes abuse by making adherents feel that it happens to everyone.   The next section of the wheel describes instrumentalizing children as a means to control victims. It includes examples of “using children to relay messages” and “threatening to take the children away” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Though this section is not relevant for cult members without children, cult leaders can and have used children against their parents. One way this has been done is through using children to report on the activities of their parents to the cult leader through in-group surveillance.  Another part of the wheel describes “using male privilege” as a form of abuse (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). While cult leaders are not always male, the definition and examples listed absolutely pertain to cult leaders. It describes this form of abuse as “treating [them] like a servant, making all the big decisions, acting like the master of the castle, being the one to define men’s and women’s roles” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Cult leaders, like domestic abusers, treat their followers as servants through requiring excess time and labor. The God-like leader, like the assumed male perpetrator on the wheel, holds ultimate authority and does not allow members to make important decisions for themselves. In this vein, if the cult does support traditional gender roles, the leader is the one who defines what they are. The last part of the wheel covers economic abuse. It is defined as “preventing [them] from getting or keeping a job, making [them] ask for money, giving [them] an allowance, taking [their] money, not letting [them] know about or have access to family income” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 1985). Economic abuse is present within cults; cult leaders require an excess amount of adherents’ income to be given to them with some demanding all. Cult leaders, like domestic abusers, often decide what job their followers can or cannot work and may even open 21  their own business to have more control over their followers. Cults that become communal and require all income to be given to the leader may inflict more extreme forms of economic abuse by requiring followers to ask if they need money. Both cult leaders and domestic abusers use this type of abuse to reduce the risk of their victims leaving, as they are unable to afford it.  Female-Led Cultic Groups  Religious scholars have noted a significant deficiency of research on women as religious leaders. One such scholar lamented repeatedly receiving the message “results not found” when searching for topics pertaining to women in religious leadership (Brekus 2007). Upon beginning this review of available literature on female-led cults, I found myself in a similar position. While there is some research available pertaining to women’s ordination (Knoll and Bolin 2018), literature exploring women as cult leaders is sparse. Despite many public reports alleging abuse and criminal activity of such groups (Taylor 1993; The Orlando Sentinel, 2003), female leaders of cultic groups have been largely ignored by social scientists compared with their male counterparts. Because of the lack of scholarly literature available on such groups, I sourced and examined available law records, newspaper articles and other non-scholarly works about female-led cults.  My sample consists of all female-led religious groups that I was able to find who were active anytime between 1850-2023. I was able to find the following groups: Taliesin West; Heaven’s Gate; Anne Hamilton Byrne’s The Family; Seventh-Day Adventist Church; Church of the Sacrifice; Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul; Superior Universal Alignment; La Santa Muerte; Love Has Won; Unarius Academy of Science; The Shakers; (female-led) Branch Davidians; and Teal Swan. After surveying available literature, I excluded all groups that did not meet criteria for being a cult as laid out in the previous chapter. This led to the 22  elimination of the Church of the Sacrifice, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Branch Davidians from the sample.  Due to the patriarchal nature of the vast majority of societies (Reid and Hammersley 2000), the existence and prevalence of female-led cults is enigmatic. To understand how these leaders gain credibility and thus followers within patriarchal societies, I reviewed available sources and identified shared emergent themes. Based upon this research, I conclude that female cult leaders tend to methodically increase their proximity to power and utilize existing patriarchal ideas to attain authority. Once legitimized, female cult leaders use unique tactics to construct an organization that is more egalitarian or matriarchal in nature than society at large. While seemingly contradictory at first glance, female cult leaders’ ambivalence toward patriarchy is intentionally malleable, acting as a tool to serve their various goals. Female cult leaders often associate themselves with pre-existing sources of power to gain credibility as religious or spiritual leaders. For some cults, this has manifested through having a male as a co-leader or face of the group. This strategy allows women leaders to draw credibility by associating themselves with a male, a symbol of authority within patriarchal societies, particularly within high-tension religious groups. For example, the Taliesin West cult was originally built around Frank Lloyd Wright (Hoffmann 1983). However, ex-adherents have written that Olgivanna, Wright’s wife, was the one who was actually in control (Staff 2006). This same strategy was used by the following cults: Heaven’s Gate (Bearak 1997), The Family led by Anne Hamilton Byrne (Cusack 2017), Uriel of Unarius, and the Shakers (Zeller Benjamin 2009). Interestingly, female-led cults that took this particular route have had a plethora of scholarly research written about them when compared with those that had a female as a stand-alone leader. 23  This attests to the efficacy of this tactic and highlights the potential presence of a gender bias among social scientists.  Another way that many female cult leaders align themselves with pre-existing power structures is by associating themselves with the dominant religion present in their respective societies. Leaders of these groups have accomplished this by beginning their cult as a sect of the most influential religion and/or claiming to be a reincarnation of religious figures associated with the dominant group. Additionally, this allows leaders an opportunity to appeal to more followers through sharing a religion. This strategy, termed “cultural continuity,” is a predictor of success for cults and new religious movements alike (Campbell 1998). Heaven’s Gate, famously known for their belief in UFOs and mass suicide (Lewis 2003), began as a sect of Christianity, with its leaders believing they were prophets foretold in the biblical text of Revelation (Zeller 2006). Valentina De Andrade of the Superior Universal Alignment cult, known for their numerous alleged human sacrifices (The Orlando Sentinel 2003), claimed Jesus was an extraterrestrial Messiah, linking her group to the dominant religion of Christianity (Estephe 2014). This tactic has been practiced by the leaders of other female-led cults, including the following groups: the Shakers (Stein 2009); The Family (Cusack 2017); Love Has Won (Teply 2023); Uriel of Unarius (Kirkpatrick and Tumminia 1995:8); and Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul (Elkind 1990).  Another way in which female cult leaders access power and legitimacy within a patriarchal society is by attracting followers of higher social and financial status. Accruing adherents who are well-connected allow the cult leader to gain legitimacy by association to appeal to prospective members. While this is often present in male-led cults (Teixeira 2010), this tactic is crucial for the success of female cult leaders who must achieve validation despite living 24  in a patriarchal society. This is evident in the Taliesin West cult, which included a famous architect as co-leader from its inception (Hoffmann 1983). This group was thus easily able to pull other influential members and counted the daughter of Joseph Stalin among its followers (Staff 2006). In addition to providing legitimacy, this strategy may allow leaders to protect themselves from being held accountable for illegal activities.  This insular effect can be observed in The Family, a cult led by Anne Hamilton Byrne. Byrne was able to successfully proselytize wealthy women by espousing her ideology to wealthy clients as a yoga teacher (Cusack 2017). She further attracted high status individuals after she married her husband, a professor of physics, who introduced her to psychiatrists, lawyers and other influential individuals within his social circle (Cusack 2017). These social connections likely aided in the delay of the legal prosecution of Byrne, who, despite kidnapping children and using illicit drugs for cult rituals, did not face legal consequences for over 20 years (Cusack 2017).  Another notable aspect of this strategy is that it allows the leaders access to large sums of money. Since cult leaders typically gain control of the finances of their followers (Hassan 2020) having wealthy adherents can act as a direct connection to financial power. This theme is evident in the Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul cult led by Terri Hoffman. Hoffman told multiple wealthy followers to assign her as the sole recipient of their life insurance policies, many of whom died shortly after completing the paperwork (Taylor 1993). Due to having access to large amounts of money and proximity to high status individuals, Hoffman was able to continue this pattern for years (Taylor 1993). In 1990, she was tried for “murder through mind control,” but was able to avoid charges due to the ability to afford an effective lawyer (Taylor 1993). She was not legally apprehended until 1994 after declaring bankruptcy and being found 25  guilty of numerous counts of fraud (The Galveston Daily News 1994). The successful proselytization of high-status individuals thus provided both legitimacy and a shield for many female-cult leaders. Another theme that emerged from researching female-led cultic groups was that they often had cult-owned businesses. This is significant because owning a business provides credibility for the cult by allowing them to present themselves as a pillar to their community. Olgivanna of Taliesin West was able to use their architecture firm as a guise and advertised it as a way for potential architects to learn from a master (Hoffmann 1983). This strategy allowed the group to make more money and acted as a recruiting tool by luring young architects into the fold (Hoffmann 1983). Additionally, having a business permits access to greater sums of money and increases the control the leader(s) wield over followers. The Shakers, famous for their carpentry and crafting skills, all lived and worked together on their various compounds (Hohenadel 2021; Jortner 2009). Due to their successful businesses, members did not seek employment external to the cult (Wergland 2011:71). This further isolated members from society at large, thus segregating adherents from outside criticisms of the cult belief system. Other examples of female-led cultic groups that used businesses as a strategy to increase their influence include the following: Heaven’s Gate (Robinson 1997); Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul (Rodrigue 1982); Love Has Won (Teply 2023); and Teal Swan (2023).  After establishing followers and situating themselves in positions of influence, female cult leaders use various methods to boost the status of females and decrease the social standing of males within their cult. This can manifest through the limiting or banning of marriage and procreation, promotion of adoption, placing women in positions of power within the organization, and the proliferation of acts that subjugate men.  26  Historically, marriage has been a tool of patriarchal oppression against women, many of whom have often found themselves subjugated to a lesser role within the union (Alwedinani 2017). Possibly as a response to this dynamic, female-led cults often set either strict limits on marriage or completely ban the practice. This allows the power dynamic to become more egalitarian among adherents, while increasing the authority of the group’s leader. In the cult The Family, for example, Byrne held the authority to disseminate and re-assign romantic relationships as she saw fit (Cusack 2017). The Shakers famously forbade marriage, freeing women from male authority during a time period when women were viewed as incapable of independence (Wergland 2011:28). These tactics aim to decrease the power of males within the group.  Some female-led cults will limit or abolish sex as a means to dismantle patriarchal power within the group. Limiting sex reduces the chances of pregnancy, a state in which women are less powerful, as they typically need more rest and care. This ensures women remain more active within the cult and able to maintain consistent influence. Within the Taliesin West group, the leader Olgivanna chose which members were sexually active and selected their partners (Staff 2006). By limiting and controlling sexual activity, she was able to usurp power often reserved for males in relationships. The leaders of Heaven’s Gate completely banned sex and encouraged followers to mutilate their sexual organs (Robinson 1997). By removing sexual organs, the leaders were able to diminish gender distinctions, further equalizing group members.  By promoting outside adoption, female cult leaders are able to grow their follower count without subjecting their followers or themselves to pregnancy. This strategy is useful for elevating women within the cult because they are able to be more active and take more initiative without being hindered by pregnancy. The Family, for example, was known to encourage 27  adoption and created a school to gain further access to outside children (Cusack 2017). This group eventually resorted to kidnapping minors to further populate their group (Cusack 2017). Silvia Meraz Moreno, leader of the Santa Muerte cult, was also known for using adoption to diminish the need for reproduction within her group (Lerner 2022).   To further reduce patriarchal dimensions within their groups, some female-cult leaders will assign more women to positions of authority than men. The women in the Shaker cult, for example, had the authority to accept, decline or terminate membership (Wergland 2011:168). Additionally, sisters in this group were viewed as more likely to be “instruments” of God than men, allowing them to be able to speak on behalf of God (Wergland 2011:129). This proximity to God was often used to expose, threaten or expel their peers (often men) from the group (Wergland 2011:129). Shaker women were also able to punish male followers by decreasing their food rations (Wergland 2011:125). Likewise, The Family allowed women to have higher status by becoming “aunties,” a position unattainable by men within the group (Cusack 2017).  Another tactic used by some female cult leaders to diminish the impacts of patriarchy on their group is to subjugate, humiliate or dehumanize men. This theme was present in the Heaven’s Gate cult, in which male members were encouraged to castrate themselves (Robinson 1997). The leader of the Superior Universal Alignment cult declared that all men born after 1981 are inherently evil and should be killed (Carrasco 2023). This led to a string of murders of multiple boys and men, many of which were found with their sexual organs mutilated (The Orlando Sentinel 2003). Degradation tactics such as these shift social power away from males within the group. Despite the many strategies used by female cult leaders to diminish the impact of patriarchal structures upon their group, they often borrow some gender norms embedded in 28  patriarchy to earn credibility from outsiders. This can manifest through the continuance of certain gendered roles and attire. The Shakers had tasks that were strictly coded by gender, with women being assigned to work in food preparation and clothing, while men were limited to traditionally masculine roles like carpentry (Wergland 2011:88). Shaker women were originally required to wear a head covering to further divide themselves from men (Wergland 2011:96-97). Though these groups often shift power away from men, women within their respective societies are still expected to submit to the roles as determined by their leader. This theme was present within The Family, where only women would be assigned to care for the leader’s children (Cusack 2017). Though these strategies may seem counterproductive at first glance, adhering to some gendered social norms allows these cults to appear less radical and therefore more relatable to prospective converts.  This analysis suggests female cult leaders use multiple methods to navigate their acquisition and maintenance of power within patriarchal societies. This exploration of common strategies used by these leaders provides an additional framework for studying WOF through a gender critical lens. Relying exclusively on male-centric cult research would lead to a less comprehensive understanding of how WOF operates by neglecting the intersection of gender and power at play in the group. Philosemitism  Philosemitism is a term used to describe the objectification, instrumentalization, and appropriation of Jewish people and culture by gentiles (Zubrzycki 2022:9-10). Philosemitism is a group-specific expression of the model minority mythos phenomenon, in which a particular minority group is promoted as a “positive” example to other minorities by the dominant group. This is a mechanism for maintaining social control, as model minority groups are used to 29  “prove” that opportunities are equally accessible for all, thus weaponizing the model group as a means to keep other groups from obtaining upward mobility (Chang 2013:961-963). As seen with other model minority groups, philosemites objectify Judaism under the guise of admiration or appreciation of Jewish culture (Zubrzycki 2022:10). While philosemites hold a more positive outlook towards Jewish people than do antisemites, research suggests this viewpoint leads to negative societal outcomes, such as discrimination against Jews through stereotyping (Zubrzycki 2022:82-83). Philosemitism is present throughout the history of the United States, and currently continues to be a social problem (Carenen 2012:xi, 210-211).   Historically, the Jewish people have been exploited by philosemites to discriminate against other minority populations. In the United States, white liberal Protestants used philosemitism to support the imposition of eugenics onto Italian and Irish immigrants (Wilde 2020:59, 63, 73). Jewish people were lauded as “proof” that eugenics are effective, suggesting they believed Jewish people to be “well-bred” (Wilde 2020:73). American Protestants also used philosemitism as a guise for Islamophobia (Carenen 2012:196). Research on Polish philosemites suggests that Jewish immigrants are viewed as more favorable than Vietnamese immigrants, who have been largely unwelcome (Zubrzycki 2022:83).  Though model minority groups may occasionally experience some social advantages, being viewed as “other” still negatively impacts those within the model group as a whole, especially when the group is no longer perceived as instrumental in the discrimination of other minorities (Zubrzycki 2022:82-83). One way in which philosemites have perpetuated this harm is by silencing Jewish voices and the amplifying gentile opinions surrounding Jewish matters. In Poland, for example, a gentile artist rallied support for the Jewish people by producing different art exhibitions. Though this was supported by the Jewish community at first, his exhibitions 30  became offensive in nature, culminating in an artistic recreation of a historical event in which hundreds of Jewish people were burned to death (Zubrzycki 2022:85-86). In the United States, early Protestant philosemites attempted to “reclaim” Israel as a country for the Jewish people. Despite vocal Jewish opposition to this scheme at that time, philosemitic Protestants had long-term goals to deport Jews to Israel after its founding (Goldman 2018:93-94).  Another way in which Jewish people are harmed by philosemitism is when dominant groups weaponize the complimentary stereotypes ascribed to Jews. This can occur when Jewish success is perceived as a threat to the dominant group’s power. Stereotypes of Jewish people, such as being financially intuitive, for example, are reframed as Jews being viewed as abnormally powerful and cunning. This transformation was evident in the United States during the Great Depression, when nationally prevalent philosemitism turned to antisemitism (Carenen 2012:2-3). Political pundits of the time would often blame Jewish people for the recession by claiming Jews controlled all of the capital and media (Carenen 2012:1). This type of stereotyping was further cemented in American consciousness when Henry Ford published the Protocols for the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic forged document that claimed Jewish people were secretly controlling social institutions, such as the media, and had goals to rule the world (Carenen 2012:3).  Though observable worldwide, the United States has a unique and distinct connection to philosemitism. Philosemitism is deeply woven into the history and founding of the United States and has been traced back to the Puritans in the 1600s (Goldman 2018:13-15). The Puritans of this era believed Jewish people would “return” to Jerusalem soon (Goldman 2018:13-15). This belief was theologically instrumental to the Puritans, as they believed the return would be a sign of the Lord’s homecoming, suggesting American Protestant philosemitism is largely rooted in 31  religious motivations and theology (Goldman 2018:13-15). The Puritans used Old Testament narratives to make sense of their own plight and would often refer to America as the “promised land” (Goldman 2018:17-18). Some American Protestants appropriated the “promised land” rhetoric and claimed that God cared about America even more so than Israel, and that Americans were God’s chosen people over the Jews (Goldman 2018:44).  Many leaders who influenced the American people were philosemitic, including Jonathan Edwards and John Locke (Goldman 2018: 46, 53-54). In the late 1800s, Protestant philosemitic concerns with Judaism and Israel became political. Ministers and notable politicians petitioned President Benjamin Harrison to assist with returning Jewish people to Israel, despite the protest of American Jews (Goldman 2018:65-66,68-69). This fascination with establishing a homeland for the Jewish people carried over into the 1900s, where Protestant activists worked closely with the United States government (and sometimes with American Jewish people) to establish Israel as a country (Carenen 2012:70). After Israel became recognized as a nation, American philosemitism became largely centered around providing political and financial support to Israel (Carenen 2012:70-71). American philosemites believed that denying support to the new state of Israel would remove God’s blessings from America (Carenen 2012:117-120).  With the rising political power of Evangelicals and their fixation on Judaism, the late 20th century was marked by significant expressions of philosemitism in both religious and political contexts. Pat Robertson and other prominent Evangelical leaders during this time published a joint pro-Zionist statement, further signaling the focus on Judaism within Evangelical circles (Carenen 2012:181-182). After the rise of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Falwell began advocating for stronger governmental involvement with Israel (Carenen 2012:182). Though some American Jews were ambivalent, many were uneasy with the budding 32  alliance with the Protestant right (Carenen 2012:201). America’s history of philosemitism leads us to the current moment in which Evangelical Christians continue this tradition, both politically and theologically.   Tragedy Appropriation A central aspect of WOF’s philosemitism is their appropriation of Holocaust narratives, as seen in their Holocaust Museum. This dynamic represents a wider phenomenon I term tragedy appropriation. Tragedy appropriation is when one group seizes upon disaster(s) experienced by others and uses the narrative(s) for their own purposes, such as solidifying group bonds or avoiding accountability. As with cultural appropriation (Garnham and Williams 1980), tragedy appropriation is typically utilized by social groups that maintain a higher social status than the group that is being exploited. Appropriating groups can utilize this phenomenon by drawing parallels between their own manufactured persecution and that of the marginalized group, viewing a group’s tragedy as a tool for their own gain, by outright denial and theft of the marginalized group’s experience, or through otherwise falsely framing their group as the main object of victimhood within the narrative. This social mechanism operates at the group level and is used to build cohesion, attain goals, avoid accountability, and stigmatize perceived enemies. Tragedy appropriation is distinct from cultural appropriation; appropriating groups do not always borrow from the culture of the group they are exploiting. However, there are also times in which it is used in tandem with cultural appropriation by the appropriating group.  One example of tragedy appropriation can be observed in the case of Arno Gaebelein and his followers. Gaebelein was a rabid antisemitic propagandist in the 1920s and 1930s who believed Jewish people were trying to take over the world (Carenen 2012:5). However, as the tragedy of the Holocaust progressed, Gaebelein and his followers reversed course and began 33  reporting on the persecution of the Jews in Germany (Carenen 2012:29-30). He began sharing gory details of the Holocaust and suggested that the media was intentionally underreporting the atrocities (Poling 1951). Gaebelein suggested that Jewish people’s suffering in the Holocaust would lead to mass conversion that would result in the reinstating of Israel as a country (Carenen 2012:29-30). The establishment of Israel as a nation, according to many Evangelical fundamentalists, would lead to the fulfillment of end-times prophecies described in the Bible (Carenen 2012:30). This switch facilitated the Protestant fundamentalists’ ability to appropriate the tragedy of the Holocaust by constructing Jewish suffering as a tool for the advancement of their goals. Post-Holocaust, many Protestant fundamentalists became philosemitic and utilized their connections to Judaism to bolster their religious and political agenda (Goldman 2018:151-152). Another manifestation of tragedy appropriation has been observed among white male conservative political leaders and “witch hunts,” a reference to multiple instances of the torture and murder of “witches” by their communities (Acevedo 2019). Donald Trump, for example, equated being held accountable for his alleged crimes with being the victim of a witch hunt (Grube 2020). In Western societies, witch hunts have largely targeted women and minority populations (Ben-Yehuda 1980). There are no documented instances of witch hunts targeting conservative white males, and some scholars have argued Trump himself attempted to perpetuate a witch hunt targeting Muslims (Acevedo 2019). In this instance, Trump used tragedy appropriation to rally his base, avoid legal accountability for the crimes of himself and his allies and to project blame onto his enemies (Grube 2020).  In more extreme cases of tragedy appropriation, appropriators will directly claim the calamitous event(s) of a separate group as their own literal experience. This is observed among 34  the British-Israelites, a Christian extremist movement whose adherents claim that white people are the actual Israelites from the Old Testament (Cottrell-Boyce 2020). Along with the blatant theft of Jewish identity, this group claims their ancestors were the true victims of slavery as mentioned in the book of Exodus (Bryan 1984:23). By appropriating this narrative of victimization, British-Israelites are able to reinforce group cohesion through imagined suffering and redirect the flow of perceived subjugation towards themselves. This is notable because the British have historically oppressed a multitude of groups; they have colonized more nations than any other country in the world (Shillington 2005). Additionally, this belief is used to further the discrimination of Jewish people, as the movement views them as deceitful for denying the veracity of the British-Israelites (McFarland and Gottfried 2002).    Another example of one group seizing the tragic narrative of another can be observed in the case of Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller during World War II. Niemoller led a church in Germany before and during the Third Reich (Carenen 2012:49). Initially, he supported the Christian Nazi party and many of their antisemitic political goals (Carenen 2012:51). However, as the regime progressed, Hitler’s policies began to suppress some religious freedoms from Christian groups as well (Carenen 2012:51). When the religious freedom of his church was at stake, Niemoller resisted Hitler’s regime and was placed in a concentration camp (Carenen 2012:51). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Niemoller became well known as a speaker among American Protestants, who lauded him as a Christian hero who opposed the Nazi party for the sake of Jewish people and Christians alike (Carenen 2012:50-51). As Niemoller continued these tours, he began perpetuating “The Myth of Christian Intervention,” a belief that there was wide-scale opposition to the Nazi party by German Protestants (Carenen 2012:49-52). He did this by reframing German Christians as resistors of the Nazis, protectors of Jewish people, and centering 35  the Holocaust narrative around Christian suffering (Carenen 2012:49-53). Niemoller’s appropriation of the Holocaust as a tragedy targeting Christians provided a way for German Christians to avoid accountability for their overwhelming support of the Nazi regime and instead to receive the sympathy and support of American Protestants (Carenen 2012:49-51).  Additionally, this narrative allowed American Protestants to vicariously envision themselves as co-sufferers and heroes, instead of oppressors of Jewish people. This is evident by the prevalence of German Christian victimization as a theme within the Protestant press during this period (Carenen 2012:49). After Niemoller re-framed the tragedy of the Holocaust as a Christian struggle, he further invalidated the plight of Jewish people by declaring antisemitism dead in Germany and attempting to silence Jewish criticism of his ahistorical narratives (Carenen 2012:53-55). American Protestant writers responded by publishing in support of Niemoller’s actions, saying that anyone critiquing him was further persecuting Christians, who “bore the brunt” of Nazi resistance (Christian Century 1947; Carenen 2012:56). This is evidence of how American Protestants began to view the Holocaust as their own story to tell.  The historical connection between American Protestants and Holocaust-themed tragedy appropriation provides context that is indispensable for understanding WOF, a group that is derived from American Evangelical Protestantism. Tragedy appropriation and this historical analysis provide a lens for understanding why WOF operates the Holocaust Museum, and what they may seek to gain from doing so.  Methodology I utilized multiple sources of qualitative data to study WOF. Due to the group’s perceived hostility towards researchers, I conducted a semi-covert participant observation at The Holocaust Museum to lessen the chances that the tour would be altered upon my arrival. I informed the tour 36  guide that I was writing a paper relating to persecution, but did not reveal that I was specifically studying WOF. My observations at the museum focused on observing how information is displayed and disseminated by the tour guide. To maintain IRB compliance for non-human research, I did not collect personally identifying data on employees or patrons. To supplement data for this research, I analyzed all Google reviews about the museum and identified themes pertaining to the experiences of customers. Additionally, I analyzed the entirety of the museum website to study how WOF markets themselves and their projects to outsiders. I did a brief overview of the media on the “Holocaust Survivor Testimonies” tab, which contained 23 videos. However, I did not code them due to time constraints. Due to the group’s suspicion of outsiders and closed services, I primarily used digital ethnography to gather data about their beliefs, practices, features and response to critics. On the WOF website, I examined all blogs and writings under the homepage, “Our Church,” “Our Beliefs” and “Press Release” subheadings. Notably, I excluded information that personally identified specific individuals. Additionally, I analyzed all Google reviews of WOF to study how the group is perceived by congregants and visitors. I drew extensively from Weiss and Mohr’s (2020) book Broken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America’s Most Dangerous Cults. This book, written by investigative journalists, includes multiple interviews with former members, visitors, and locals, and provided context for the inner workings of this secretive group. For each step in the data analysis process, I used both open and focused coding. I began by using codes that identify both primary and secondary cult traits as outlined in the cult classification section. Additionally, I used codes pertaining specifically to female cult leaders as detailed in the above sections. Due to relevance, I included philosemitism and tragedy 37  appropriation among these codes. Throughout the analysis, due to emergent themes, I added the following codes: total depravity, normalization, deception, appeal to positive emotions, God, and emotional incongruence. For the church’s Google reviews, I used the following two emergent codes: cult and abuse. Due to the limited and specific nature of the Museum’s Google reviews, I used only the following codes, all of which were emergent: knowledge, art, and emotional incongruence. Lastly, for the participant observation, I added the following emergent codes: categorization of Jewish people as good, categorization of Jewish people as bad, and representation of non-Jewish Holocaust victims. I used Atlas.ti to store and organize the data I coded.   38  CHAPTER 2. RESULTS Word of Faith Google Reviews At the time of retrieval, there were a total of 172 Google reviews about WOF with an overall average rating of 2.8 stars. Aside from two exceptions, every reviewer left either a one-star or a five-star rating. Of these, I coded only written reviews. Among the coded reviews, there were 45 one-star ratings, one two-star rating, zero three-star ratings, one four-star rating and 40 five-star ratings. I removed the four-star review from the sample because it was incoherent and appeared to have been left by mistake. The remaining sample consisted of 86 written evaluations. The reviews were highly polarized and tended to be either extremely positive or extremely negative. Due to the polarization, I divided the reviews into two groups for the analysis: Pro-WOF (those who approve of and defend WOF, leaving five-star reviews) and Anti-WOF (those who disapprove of WOF, leaving one or two-star reviews). All but five of the 40 five-star reviews were posted six years ago. Unlike Pro-WOF, Anti-WOF reviews were not posted within a specific time frame. Many five-star reviewers and some lower raters referred to the media portraying WOF in a negative light. Across the board, the reviews read less like evaluations of a location and more like one side of a debate. Pro-WOF  Reviews left by Pro-WOF commenters tended to be longer and more detailed than Anti-WOF reviews. Additionally, many of them appeared to be more formulaic and included similar details. Combining this observation with the fact that 35 of them were posted within the same year and included information about negative media, it is possible that these reviewers were instructed to post reviews and given guidelines as to how they should write them. I was not the first to make this observation; a few Anti-WOF reviewers pointed out this pattern. For example, 39  the sole two-star reviewer wrote, “Apparently six years ago (2017) everyone who is in this cult was instructed to write reviews here about what great and wonderful people sam and jane are.” Google reviews only show years and not days or months, so I was unable to determine how close together these reviews were posted. This possible use of scripts within WOF was corroborated by the testimonies of ex-members, who have said Jane has provided them with instructions on what to say when confronting critical outsiders in specific situations (Weiss and Holbrook 2020:262-263). While observing these reviews, a few themes emerged. First, most Pro-WOF comments were largely defensive of WOF. They tended to use denial and appealed to social statuses, positive emotional states, used absolute language, and appealed to God as a means of defense. Though largely defensive, many Pro-WOF commenters also used offensive strategies to disprove or silence objectors.  In their denials, five-star reviewers flatly rejected accusations of abuse (mostly child abuse) and of behaviors popularly associated with cults. Pro-WOF comments brought up abuse twice as often as Anti-WOF comments. As a reviewer wrote, “I have never seen or heard a single member Ever being abused!” Many specifically denied child abuse. One pro-WOF wrote, “My grandchildren go to the Word of Faith Christian school and I am so HAPPY and GRATEFUL they are going to a school where they are NOT harassed or abused! I am with them in school every day and have never seen any abuse!” Pro-WOF reviewers also denied accusations that are stereotypically leveraged against cults. Some of them denied living in a commune, being treated with cruelty or being isolated and/or insisted they individually chose to marry their spouse. One reviewer wrote,  I've read and heard-too much silliness and fantasy about my church.  Some make it out to be a compound we all live crammed in and suffer such cruelty like a concentration camp. NOT SO!! You know, people can't leave reviews about somewhere they've never been! Dont make it sound like we are pitiful captives in this church.  Everyone has chosen on their own to either stay or leave.  40  Overall, Pro-WOF commenters left reviews that seemed more like a response to an unseen conversation, denying things for which the casual reader would have no context.   Some other defense strategies in Pro-WOF reviews were appealing to social statuses, over-emphasizing positive emotional states, using absolutist language, and invoking the divine as evidence of their reliability. These reviewers referenced statuses that ranged from desirable (such as being a college graduate), commonly relatable (such as being a parent or spouse) or being a member of a vulnerable population (such as being non-white). While these statuses vary on levels of social desirability, each was used to defend WOF by attempting to appear either authoritative or relatable.  Those appealing to their desirable statuses often used this as evidence that they were reliable sources of information and could therefore be trusted in their defense of WOF. An example of this can be observed in the following review,  I graduated from a prestigious high school in SC and went on to attend college in another part of the state on a scholarship related to journalism and creative writing. I had a passion for writing and I was taught that a journalist has a responsibility to present information fairly and honestly.  I went on to graduate with a degree in education AFTER I became a faithful member of Word of Faith Fellowship.  The first time I attended a service at this wonderful church all I could think is ‘ these people really love God with their whole hearts and they are serious about serving Him’.  Respondents who used common social statuses did so as a way to appeal to the average reader through self-normalization; this is called “narrative fidelity” (Bader and Baker 2019). This can be observed in the following review,  Jane Whaley is the sweetest person I know, I have the best church! Everyone there is so loving! Everything that has been spoken out is a lie, there is NO ABUSE IN THIS CHURCH, I do not know who they are talking about but it is not WOFF, I work in this community and I love this community! I am married with three beautiful children that are happily being raised in the church attending our Christian school that has some of the highest excelling students with highest testing in the state and region. Some Pro-WOF commenters claimed to be members of marginalized populations, and used their review to write about how attending WOF helped them to overcome the struggles 41  associated with this social status, thus portraying the church in a positive light. One reviewer wrote, “BEST PLACE ON EARTH!!! My family came to this church with nothing. We were then blessed with EVERYTHING- peace, happiness, clothing, houses, jobs, prosperity and much more. The neigh-sayers are just jealous. You can't believe the media...it's "Fake News".”  In another emergent theme, Pro-WOF reviewers sometimes intersected multiple status types for added punch, as seen in the following review,  We are two Black Americans, who are veteran public servants. We have dedicated our lives to working with schools, families, churches and our community in preparing young people to function effectively and make positive contributions to our society. Our combine years of service add up to 85 plus years. We have worked in the capacity of teacher, guidance counselor, social worker, and school administrator.  We both retired with excellent evaluations from our public school positions after working in 3 different states. We now do volunteer work in the Word of Faith Christian School and serve on the school’s advisory board.  Regardless of which social status was mentioned, the intended outcome was to defend WOF against detractors; providing their educational bonafides also served to normify WOF’s faith-based school. Additionally, this reviewer relied upon their years of public service to further cement their authority. None of the Anti-WOF reviewers appealed to any of these types of social statuses.  Another defense mechanism used by Pro-WOF reviewers was appealing to positive emotions. Some responders used their positive emotional state as evidence that WOF is a good and reliable religious group. One reviewer wrote,  I have been a member of this church for 30 years and love it!  My life was a mess before I came here at age 23 and since that first day, countless hours of love, care and encouragement have been poured out to me. I have changed,  I am changing and will continue to change and am happier and more peaceful than I've ever been in my life!  Additionally, some reviewers appealed to the positive emotional state of children within the group as a way to discredit abuse allegations. One reviewer wrote the following,  This is the best church and the best family that I could ever have! I feel so much love and care [through these] people that my life has been restored. Grandmother Jane, Papa Sam and their family are the most precious people that I ever met, they really care about you. The children from 42  this church are the sweetest children, they will always come to give me a hug and show their love for me. Children will give back what they have received, and the children from this church have received so much love and peace, because they give you a lot of love and they have peace. A child that is abused can not show joy, peace and love. So don`t waste your time listening to these lies. Remember that: THE MEDIA JUST LIE! Go yourself and find out the truth!  These appeals to emotional state occurred 11 times throughout the data and were exclusively used by Pro-WOF reviewers. Pro-WOF reviewers often used positive absolute language to defend WOF. These raters referred to the church and/or its leaders as the “best,” providing further evidence of the group’s polarization. One reviewer wrote, “It’s the most inspirational church. The pastors are the most God fearing,people loving, and preachers of the TRUTH!!! Love this place!!!” Reviews like this were used to convey absolute certainty about the overall innocence of the leaders of WOF. This phenomenon, observed only in Pro-WOF ratings, emerged 15 times.  The last method of defense commonly used by Pro-WOF reviewers was to declare God’s approval of WOF. As members of a religious group located in the Bible belt, these reviewers deem God to be the highest authority, making this a viable defense rhetoric. For example, a reviewer wrote,  God has truly blessed me and my family since day one and has brought almost my entire nuclear family here all the way from Texas.  Why?  I cried out to God for a better life and the love and joy and peace that I felt after coming here once for a seminar sealed my destiny...some way some how, I was going to move here with or without my family. (which I did in 1999). I came with my aunt and uncle.  I didn't come here for cash, didn't come for a car, not a wife, not a job.  I came because God told me this was my home.  I knew from day one that this was where God planted me.  Pro-WOF reviewers, while largely defensive in nature, also used offensive strategies to discredit outsiders. The offensive strategies largely fell into one of the following categories: claiming outsiders are deceptive, stating God disapproves of outside criticism and alleging that they are being persecuted on the basis of religion. Pro-WOF reviewers used these themes to further cement the “us versus them” dynamic they experience as a marginalized religious group. 43  Pro-WOF reviewers often accused non-members of intentional deceit. Some directly named and addressed specific ex-members and journalists who had negatively portrayed the church. For example, one Pro-WOF reviewer wrote,  I am so sorry but you don't have a clue what you're talking about. If what you said was true, many other church member would have left. These church members are very highly educated that they would not let any abuse to happen to their families. [name redacted] have you personally been down to the church and visit with the people? Your story to me feels like you have a personal Vendetta against them. And I don't know your motives. It seems like fake news to me.  Many Pro-WOF commenters would begin their reviews defensively, and after gaining the readers’ trust, would begin accusing outsiders at the end. One Pro-WOF wrote,  I have known Sam and Jane Whaley since 1979. They have been the best examples of true ministers. They are diligent to keep the gospel in its purity. They teach the difference between the holy and the profane. Tirelessly they labor in the love of God for us. 24/7. My wife and I came in 1985 as part of the original members. We were the first to be married there.  We were the children’s ministers the first five years; and, we tenderly cared for the children and no child has ever been abused. Child abuse has never been tolerated at the Word of Faith Fellowship. We have known all the accusers and none of them were ever abused at the Word of Faith. The accusers as children were very happy children and had the best. Since they left they have become ungrateful people and forgot all the love that was shown to them.  The media and the newspapers have put out fake news just like they are doing with President Trump. The media is anti-American.  This theme highlights the distrust Pro-WOF commenters feel towards outsiders, and adds further support to the likelihood that many of these reviews could have been posted online after being prompted to rebut ex-members’ criticisms about harmful church practices. I also observed Pro-WOF reviewers claiming critics are being intentionally deceptive as an offensive strategy while examining the church website, museum website and while conducting the participant observation. On the homepage of the church website, there were prompts titled “The Truth About WFF,” “Response to Media Lies,” and “Press Releases.” Under the press release tab were multiple pdfs in which lawyers hired by the church claimed A&E, a television network that was going to air a documentary about WOF, had characterized the church dishonestly. This theme emerged from the church website data seventeen times. This attempt at using accusations of? deception as a protective maneuver appeared to have been successful; the documentary was 44  never aired. In the video on the Holocaust Museum website, the speakers discussed the “lies” viewers may have heard about the church, and painted a more positive image of WOF. My observations at the museum site further support the group’s tendency to discredit outsiders by labeling them as deceitful. During the tour, the guide compared the propaganda levied against the Jewish people prior to the Holocaust to the way outsiders deceptively accused their church of wrongdoing. Pro-WOF commenters used God to threaten outsiders who were speaking out against WOF. One wrote,  I am not a member, but I have gone multiple times to attend weddings.  I have quite a few friends that are members.  I have worked with them and have always been treated with the utmost respect.  Yes, they are different with strict rules about how they serve god.  But, that DOES NOT make them bad people. They are not bothering any one, they are not putting their noses in everyone else's business, and they are not trying to make you a member. Everyone has a choice in their life, we ALL make our own decisions.  Everyone needs to stop worrying about how the Word of Faith worship God, and start worrying how they will explain their own actions to God.  This suggests Pro-WOF commenters view criticizing WOF as on par with questioning God Himself.  Lastly, Pro-WOF reviewers often stated that defectors were persecuting them for their religious beliefs. For example, one wrote,  Wow! Look at these “reviews”! That’s ok, mine is not a review either! I don’t know these people - any of them - but I will say, I do occasionally [read] my bible and I have sat through a few sermons in my life. The Bible says blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! It also says, for you ex-members, touch not God's anointed. Keep your heads up Word of Faith! Looks like you're coming back with some pretty strong rebuttals. Those folks are digging a deep pit, and they'll fall in it sooner than later and wonder what happened. All I know to say is y'all will have a big mansion in heaven! Keep on with your AP [associated press] releases [name redacted] - it's just making their mansions bigger, their robes whiter, and their crowns more beautiful!  Accusations of persecution were used exclusively by Pro-WOF commenters, and appeared eight times. This suggests that outside pressure may have caused adherents to double-down, further strengthening group bonds. 45  Anti-WOF  The Anti-WOF reviews were significantly shorter and less detailed than their opponents. Some identified themselves as ex-members while others seemed to be leaving a review after hearing about WOF through the media. Unlike Pro-WOF reviewers, people posting Anti-WOF comments were not defensive. Most of these reviews appeared to be accusatory in nature. While analyzing the Anti-WOF data, I found three main themes: accusations of abuse, calling WOF members a cult and using God as a conduit to show disapproval. Each of these strategies were used to either offend WOF adherents, other members of WOF, or to raise awareness of the alleged abuse and cult-like behaviors of WOF adherents.   Anti-WOF commenters often accused WOF members of abuse. One ex-member wrote, “I lived there for three years with my family. Things can look good from the outside, but they are NOT. What happened there and is still happening, is wrong on so many levels. While there I lost the assurance that I was even saved because of their teaching. It is total bondage. They treat people very bad, spank the kids real hard. It ruined our family.” Another ex-member posted, “I was here and saw things I can’t unsee [and] have been treated in ways I can’t explain. The show was not lying and those people are evil in themselves.” Anti-WOF commenters who did not identify as ex-members also accused WOF of abuse. One stated, “Idk why they say they’re getting slander when there’s an entire documentary exposing them for beating children and literally being a cult. It’s not slander if it’s true.” Overall, abuse was mentioned by Anti-WOF commenters eight times.   As the above quote suggests, another Anti-WOF theme was accusing WOF members of being in a cult. The tone of these reviews seemed intended to attack and offend members of WOF. One stated, “My favorite abusive and traumatic cult in NC. They continue the fight and 46  cover all the bases that a classic Christian cult should. They make sure to keep everyone involved and are not only abusive to children, but adults too!” Many of the Anti-WOF reviewers attempted to make a joke out of calling WOF a cult. For example, one respondent wrote, “When’s the kool-aid party?” a distasteful reference to the mass murder of members of The People’s Temple by cult leader Jim Jones. While all instances of Anti-WOF comments using “cult” went on the offensive, some people used it to demean and belittle WOF members as a joke while others seemed to be genuinely concerned. This theme appeared 25 times among Anti-WOF reviews. This suggests that cult adherents are members of a marginalized group, and the term “cult” is still used as an insult by some members of society.  Anti-WOF commenters often appealed to God as evidence that WOF members are not “real” Christians or were otherwise displeasing to God. This was often achieved through referencing the alleged abuse perpetrated by leaders of WOF, and claiming this abuse was contrary to Christian praxis. One wrote, “There’s a whole documentary on this church. You would be crazy to go there. Dishonest Christians are worse than all others and do the most damage to the real Christian faith. You don’t have to hit or scream at people. Jesus and God spoke to whatever they wanted to change. God is love. If it doesn’t look like love it’s not from God. Study the word for yourself.” Another respondent posted, “This is a cult and they abuse children. Shame on you!!! God is disgusted.” This provides insight into how cult members, even those that are a part of sectarian groups of the dominant religion within a society, still experience marginalization and being othered.   Overall, anti-WOF commenters were accusatory in their reviews. Similar to pro-WOF posts, anti-WOF posts did not appear to actually be reviews; rather, they were a conduit for both sides to combat each other. Anti-WOF commenters frequently accused WOF members of abuse 47  and being part of a cult, but their tone varied between sincere concern and playfully demeaning remarks. Both anti-WOF and pro-WOF reviewers employed rhetoric about the true nature of God when they suggested God was displeased with the other’s actions, providing a glimpse into how sectarian cults and non-cult members of the same religion interact with and isolate each other.  The Holocaust Museum Google Reviews  At the time of retrieval, The Holocaust Museum had 37 total reviews on Google with an average rating of 4.4 stars. Of these, only 14 included written comments and were broken down into the following ratings: three one-star reviews, one two-star review, and 10 five-star reviews. One of the one-star written reviewers left a positive comment, making it seem as if they left a low rating by mistake. I removed this from the sample, leaving 13 written comments total. Throughout the reviews, I observed the following themes: emotional incongruence, art, and knowledge.  The emotional incongruence theme emerged from both low and high raters. For low raters, I found two instances in which respondents’ reactions to a museum centering on the Holocaust seemed odd given the context; they reported that the museum made them feel uneasy. One referred to the museum as “Creepy” and the other remarked “Very sketchy place.” When I conducted participant observation at the Museum, I also found myself feeling uncomfortable at times. Some of the art pieces seemed uncanny; I later experienced guilt for feeling this way after learning each piece was modeled after real Holocaust victims. For higher raters, I observed a different type of emotional incongruence; they exhibited tones of excitement and the overuse of exclamation points to show enthusiasm for a museum focusing on a solemn subject. For 48  example, one reviewer wrote “Great!!!” Another wrote, “Congrats!! 1000 stars!!” This overly-positive theme emerged four times from five-star reviewers. Another theme I observed among positive respondents was references to artwork and knowledgeable staff. Patrons expressed being impressed with the artwork done by students, referring to it as “amazing” and “a great sight to see.” Reviewers mentioned artwork three times. Like these reviewers, I was impressed with the art. The art—from the sculptures to the paintings—was detailed to an astonishing degree considering it was all created by children. Positive respondents also raved about the knowledgeable staff. One wrote that the facilitators gave them an “A-Z run through of the Holocaust.” Another described the staff as “very informative.” Reviewers highlighted the knowledge of the staff three times. Similar to these reviewers, I was highly impressed with the tour guide’s knowledge of the Holocaust. The tour lasted just over two hours; throughout that time, the guide provided me with detailed information on the subject. The guide rarely used the many displays as reference; they presented most of the tour from memory alone.   49  CHAPTER 3. CLASSIFICATION AND FEMALE-LED CULTS  Based upon my analyses and supporting evidence from Weiss and Mohr’s (2020) book Broken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America’s Most Dangerous Cults, WOF is a sectarian cult. Throughout the analysis, WOF met the full set of criteria for primary and secondary traits of cultic groups. This suggests that cults may not all be accurately classified as “new religious movements.” Additionally, these findings support the internal validity of the framework I outlined for identifying cults.  WOF is a sectarian group, borne out of charismatic evangelical Christianity. Jane Whaley, and her husband, Sam, began their journey as ministers through Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema Bible College. After being ousted due to a mixture of sexism against Jane and disapproval of her focus on “darker” theological themes, they returned to North Carolina and began investing their efforts into WOF (Weiss and Mohr 2020:72-73). On their website, they identify as “a Protestant non-denominational Christian church,” and many of the beliefs and practices listed under the “Our Beliefs” tab carry similar theologies to that of the charismatic faith from which they descended.  Primary Traits On top of being a sectarian group, WOF met all primary criteria required to be considered a cultic group. Like all cult leaders, Jane has a deific status among her adherents. This was shown a few different ways. Jane professed that she is the only person who is unable to be possessed by demons (Weiss and Mohr 2020:57) and holds sole authority over who is able to join the church, only allowing visitors to become members upon God telling her when they are ready (Weiss and Mohr 2020:61-62). Additionally, it appears that the church’s rules and beliefs change arbitrarily based solely upon Jane’s command, and her perceived ability to have a direct 50  line to God was a theme I observed from studying the church and museum websites. For instance, Jane decided that church musicians were not worshiping in the correct way, so she removed all musical instruments (aside from the piano) from worship until she believed their motives were pure. On the Holocaust Museum website, the speakers in the homepage video claimed God told Jane to open the Holocaust Museum. While Jane does not directly claim to be God, she maintains a divine, untouchable status among her adherents; this was further emphasized through claims of miraculous healings and resurrections in both the church and museum websites. This was further corroborated by the testimonies of a few ex-members of WOF; some stated they had believed she could read their minds (Weiss and Mohr 2020:323). Like other cults, WOF’s involvement in politics was nuanced and limited. Since cult leaders draw power towards themselves to obtain ultimate control rather than using political influence to gain partial control of the masses, they rarely engage in politics unless they are defending themselves from legal repercussions or discrimination. This theme was consistent with my findings about WOF; while they do engage in politics, it appeared to be done in a way that defended them from legal repercussions or other means instead of campaigning for their ideas to be made into laws. The interactions between WOF adherents and politicians are largely at the local level: ex-members alleged the church was involved in local sheriff elections to prevent them from seeking justice (Weiss and Mohr 2020:85). This strategy appeared to have been effective: an ex-member took them to court for torturing and imprisoning him and they were merely charged with a misdemeanor (Gordon 2012; Weiss and Mohr 2020:304). Additionally, Jane encouraged members to write to their government officials when Inside Edition producers produced an exposé on the church, suggesting government involvement is only sought to protect the group in cults (Weiss and Mohr 2020:84). This was consistent with my analyses, although I 51  initially thought it had been disproven by the Zionist displays I observed in the Holocaust Museum and its website. The museum had an entire room dedicated solely to Zionism. However, during the tour, the guide said they created this display only because Jewish patrons and contributors had requested that they do so. After half-heartedly motioning to a bust of Benjamin Netanyahu, the guide completely skipped the Zionist displays and spoke no more of the topic for the remainder of the tour. This highlights the group’s ambivalence towards political activism, distinguishing them from their Christian Evangelical Fundamentalist brethren who actively engage in Zionism and other politicking (Goldman 2018:168). Polarization, another primary cultic trait, was a predominant theme throughout data collection. This was evident in the church’s Google reviews; pro-WOF reviewers often spoke about the church in absolute language, often referring to it as “the best.” The reviews being almost exclusively either one-star or five-star further illustrated this point, and showed that outsiders also view cults in polarizing terms. On their church website, I identified the “us vs. them” theme 23 times. For example, under the “Praise and Worship” heading, the writer discussed the banning of Christian music within WOF. Christian music produced by outsiders was referred to as idolatrous and profane; members of the church have written and produced over 150 of their own songs instead. This exemplified how the group views outsiders, even those from the same parent religion, as inherently wicked. Lastly, group members frequently referred to outsiders as deceitful and persecutory. I identified this theme in each source of data I collected, suggesting the group views outsiders through a polarized lens. WOF leaders use isolation to maintain control of their followers. They do this in a variety of ways. Church leaders operate a school, a museum, and maintain multiple businesses, many of which are construction-based, and employ members to ensure adherents are largely detached 52  from the outside world (Weiss and Mohr 2020:213-214). Leaders have used the school in particular to control people who grew up within the cult. For example, they have withheld transcripts from members who wanted to attend college against Jane’s will (Weiss and Mohr 2020:195-196) and have threatened to prohibit students they deemed to be sinning to graduate high school (Weiss and Mohr 2020:184). Additionally, Jane has warned against speaking with family members who don’t attend WOF and has banned followers from consuming most forms of media (Weiss and Mohr 2020:63,184).  While isolation was not a primary theme within my analysis, I did find some evidence of it in the data. The writer on the church website detailed how Jane removed outside Christian music and instruments from services and required all music used to be created in-house. Ex-members reported on the extent of this isolation, with one comparing life outside the cult as being “on a different planet,” and reporting being discouraged from reaching out to family members not affiliated with WOF (Weiss and Mohr 2020:348, 63). Lastly, ex-members have reported living on a heavily-surveilled compound with other members of WOF, further isolating them from society at large (Weiss and Mohr 2020:24).  Loss of individuality was another theme I uncovered throughout the analysis. On their websites, all images of members showed them dressed in a specific, gendered uniform. Adult females wore powersuits, had styled/teased medium to long hair and wore modest make-up. Girls wore bows in their hair and dresses. Adult and young males all had cropped, gelled hair and exclusively wore suits and ties. This was corroborated by ex-members, who said Jane referred to these outfits as “priestly garments” and would provide clothing to new members who could not afford to dress in this way (Weiss and Mohr 2020:58).  53  Another way I observed this theme was with the “total depravity” and “new you” codes. These were dominant themes on the church website and were used to diminish followers’ reliance on their own intuition, suggesting they are inherently depraved or evil. This was often followed by the “new you” label, in which potential adherents are promised to become better people through conversion and adherence to WOF practices. This was illustrated on the church website: Weddings were implied to be about church unity first and foremost. The beginning verses on the “Weddings” page refer to both oneness of the church body and unity with God and the church; they do not refer to marriage. Individuals and their marital roles were listed in the last three Bible verses of the page. This was expanded upon by ex-members, one of whom recounted their wedding vows being written by Jane and focusing on commitment to the church (Weiss and Mohr 2020:298). I also observed this while analyzing the WOF Google reviews, as 35 of the 40 written pro-WOF reviews were written within the same year and included similar themes, making them appear scripted and not individualized.  Ex-members reported spending excessive amounts of time and money when they were attending WOF. As children, some reported working for the church at times until midnight (Weiss and Mohr 2020:126). One ex-member referred to his time there as “modern day slavery” (Weiss and Mohr 2020:195-196). While I was unable to directly observe this, I did find some evidence that may support this within my analysis. While visiting the Holocaust Museum, every single art exhibit was created by children at WOF. These exhibits were numerous. The museum was almost overflowing with displays, with only one small room containing real artifacts rather than art created by children. All of the displays were elaborate; evidently a lot of time was spent creating them. This was further corroborated by the video on the homepage of the museum website. The three speakers, who created most of the exhibits, discussed creating the displays in 54  the museum throughout their childhood. One said they were expected to make these exhibits without being given any instruction on how to create art; they had to teach themselves how to sculpt and paint through trial and error and “crying out to God.” Additionally, during the participant observation, the tour guide’s tone and expression changed from sincere to theatrical when discussing the horrors of forced labor of children during the Holocaust, perhaps suggesting a nuanced form of projection. Ex-members have also reported being expected to pay large sums of money to the church despite meager wages they received from working for WOF businesses (Weiss and Mohr 2020:213-214). The last primary criterion for a cultic group, the use of punishment and humiliation, was a prominent theme on the church website. On the church website alone, this theme emerged twenty-three times. The emphasis on punishment was especially prominent in the “Our Beliefs” section, in which the writer focused on Bible verses that highlighted the punishment of sinners more so than mercy. This shows the group does place emphasis on punishment. This observation was further corroborated by ex-members, who said they could have their housing re-assigned if they acted in a way that upset Jane (Weiss and Mohr 2020:124). In another instance, an ex-member took WOF to court after they allegedly kidnapped and tortured him after he tried to leave the group. While they were found guilty, WOF leaders continued to appeal the case until it was dismissed (Weiss and Mohr 2020:180-181). Ex-members have reported being forced to endure long periods of isolation and torture at the church’s “lower building” (Weiss and Mohr 2020:220-225). Blasting, or casting out demons, is another form of humiliation used against followers. On the church website, blasting is used as an umbrella term for a multitude of spiritual experiences, ranging from speaking in tongues to crying out to God. While this practice alone isn’t necessarily abusive, it is within this group because members undergo blasting when Jane 55  tells them to, not per their own request. One woman who left the group recalled praying to God that her children would not get blasted (Weiss and Mohr 2020:112). These blastings include physical abuse and have resulted in a child’s eardrum rupturing due to the volume of screaming by leaders (Weiss and Mohr 2020:97-98). Secondary Traits On top of meeting all required primary attributes of cults, WOF also met all secondary criteria proposed to identify cultic groups. Whether through my own data collection, the testimonies of ex-members, or both, I found evidence to support each of the following items: apocalypticism, extreme forms of sexuality, in-group surveillance, recruitment of vulnerable populations, love-bombing, coerced illegal activities and operation of cult-run businesses.  I found evidence of apocalypticism within WOF through my analysis as well as through the testimonies of ex-members. As with other cults, the leaders of WOF use apocalypticism to maintain control over their followers through fear. Though I was able to find evidence for apocalypticism, it was discussed vaguely, largely being alluded to rather than being clearly stated. On the church website, apocalypticism was mentioned only twice; it was not a predominant theme within their publicly-viewable beliefs. However, I found multiple instances in which an apocalyptic event was subtly alluded to. On the video on the museum website homepage, the speakers used vague, muted language to suggest an impending apocalypse. One claimed the COVID-19 pandemic and other mass atrocities were prophesied in the Bible, and wondered about other similar difficulties that were upcoming.  During the museum tour, the tour guide hinted at an apocalyptic event being on the horizon five times. Importantly, none of the displays I witnessed held this theme, suggesting the guide was able to offer this speculation at their own discretion. When this topic was broached by 56  the guide, they often used the Holocaust as a template for understanding what this apocalypse would entail. At one point, the guide suggested an impending apocalyptic event within the United States of worse proportions than the Holocaust, citing the vast amount of information the American government maintains on individuals. The presence of apocalypticism within WOF was further supported by the testimonies of ex-members. One person who left WOF recalled being shown a video of 9/11 by Jane. She recounted Jane using this video as evidence that the apocalypse was coming soon (Weiss and Mohr 2020:168). WOF members, like many cults, engage in extreme forms of sexuality. Due to the limited nature of my analysis, I was unable to find evidence of this through data collection alone. According to ex-members, they were not allowed to date without Jane’s permission and most marriages are arranged. On their wedding night, couples were allowed a “peck on the cheek” with no other forms of intimacy. They could only have sex upon receiving permission from Jane, who determined whether they were ready for that experience (Weiss and Mohr 2020:201). Upon gaining permission, couples were limited to 30 minutes of sex at a time and were not allowed to do foreplay. Additionally, they must have the lights off and could only use the missionary position (Weiss and Mohr 2020:201-202). One ex-member recounted attending a cult-led sex class in which she was told couples should “hear from God” prior to initiating intercourse. At this class, WOF leaders mimed and vocalized the correct way members were to have sex (Weiss and Mohr 2020:203).  Leaders of WOF use in-group surveillance to maintain control of followers. This was a prominent theme within the participant observation. Shortly after beginning the tour, another person entered the museum. The guide referred to this individual as a friend who frequently tags along on tours. Throughout the tour, the guide’s friend appeared to be present for surveillance 57  purposes. They did not add information throughout the tour, and often appeared anxious to leave. Throughout the tour, they were frequently on their phone, only speaking occasionally as a reaction to what the guide said. The friend stood behind me for most of the tour, sometimes closely. I often felt they were trying to look over my shoulder to view my notes. This suspicion was validated at the end of the tour. Upon being provided with various brochures and materials by the guide, I briefly placed my notes on the table to collect them. At this point, the friend immediately rushed over with a look of opportunity and hovered over my notes. At the end of the tour, the friend left right before the guide and I did. As they left, I watched through the glass door as the friend looked into my car window. Due to the friend not adding anything of value to the tour, and the behavior indicating they had no interest in being there, I think the friend was there to surveil the guide and me.  This was further corroborated by the guide’s reaction to the friend. The guide acted as if the friend’s presence was completely natural and did not skip a beat or seem otherwise nervous upon the friend’s arrival. This suggests in-group surveillance through a buddy system may be a common occurrence within this group. The use of in-group surveillance within WOF was further supported by testimonies of visitors and ex-members. One person who attended the church as a visitor reported having his items tampered with when left unattended in the sanctuary (Weiss and Mohr 2020:61). Ex-members reported leaders checking their phones at random (Weiss and Mohr 2020:243). Children in WOF are encouraged to report each other’s sins and parents are expected to report their children’s misbehavior to Jane (Weiss and Mohr 2020:112, 154). WOF seemingly intentionally proselytizes to marginalized populations. In both websites, I observed multiple racial minorities represented, and the church has locations in Ghana and Brazil. Additionally, a conversation I had with the tour guide led me to believe race is commonly 58  discussed at their church. The guide shared that they grew up in a racist household, and that they had to unlearn these beliefs as they grew up. The guide compared this experience to how Jewish victims were perceived in the Holocaust, saying discrimination is a learned behavior. The guide’s level of comfort in being able to discuss past racist beliefs with a stranger suggests that the group may not view this as a socially taboo topic.  This was further supported by findings on the church website; they actively proselytize at prisons and are allowed to bring inmates to their church due to having a member who holds a leadership position at the prison. Diversity being a prominent theme within WOF has been cited by ex-members. One ex-member stated the diversity of the group was a “selling point,” a factor that encouraged them to join (Weiss and Holbrook 2020:38).  Despite the positive implications of diversity, there is some evidence that suggests these vulnerable statuses are also used against members as a means of control. For example, in the video on the homepage of the Holocaust Museum website, all three speakers identified as members of minority races and used negative racial stereotypes to describe what their lives may be like had they not been members of WOF. One speaker said he would have been “on the streets” as a “little black boy,” and another imagined becoming involved in “gangs” and “drugs” as a Latino male. This was a theme I noticed in the WOF Google reviews; multiple pro-WOF reviewers reported their vulnerable statuses, including the following: racial minority group, low socio-economic status, mental illness, being young and being military veterans. Many of these reviewers talked about how the church helped them overcome the challenges associated with these statuses.  This theme has been further supported through the testimonies of ex-members. Former adherents have reported being discriminated against due to their vulnerable statuses. One 59  woman, a single mother with a history of drug use and a lower socioeconomic background, recounted staying within the group due to being unable to provide for her children if she left (Weiss and Mohr 2020:166-167). Additionally, a local who works within the court system recounted that church members would often discredit ex-members’ claims of abuse by appealing to the vulnerable statuses of their victims (Weiss and Mohr 2020:268). Lovebombing was another tactic used by members of WOF. Though I was not directly proselytized, I was love bombed when I visited the museum. This occurred in a few different ways. Before the beginning of the tour, the guide wore a persistent, theatrical smile. The guide ceased this during the tour, having an appropriate solemn demeanor. The guide returned to this overly-positive affect at the end of the tour. However, the friend of the guide used this same inappropriately positive affect throughout the tour, grinning largely at me any time I looked over at them. Aside from affect, love bombing occurred in other ways throughout the participant observation. Throughout the tour, the guide occasionally called me by my first name while initiating eye contact, a tactic often used to make people feel special or comfortable in social settings. Additionally, the friend offered me a free water bottle twice during the visit.  Outside of my data collection, ex-adherents have reported being love bombed when they joined WOF. Shortly after joining the church, one ex-member recounted church members taking care of her after she had her child. Church members cooked, cleaned, babysat and visited her in the hospital. Additionally, Jane ensured all of their material needs were met and personally called to check in with her a few times a week (Weiss and Mohr 2020:38).  The church owns and operates multiple businesses. Aside from the Holocaust Museum, they own or support approximately two dozen businesses (Weiss and Mohr 2020:83). Adherents 60  are largely required to work for these businesses, allowing for more money for the church leaders and more control over followers' lives (Weiss and Mohr 2020:124-125).  Due to the limited scope of methodology I used for this research, I did not find any direct evidence to support coerced illegal activity within the group from data collection. However, ex-members have reported being manipulated into performing illegal activities while they were within the group. During a recession, one ex-adherent alleged Jane pitched an unemployment scam for congregants to participate in to help maintain some of the businesses facilitated by WOF members. This was labeled “God’s Plan,” and was allegedly discussed from the pulpit (Weiss and Holbrook 2020:218-219). When this scheme was uncovered, Jane was able to avoid accountability via the court system while members were charged (Weiss and Holbrook 2020:365). Likewise, in the Google reviews, a few pro-WOF mentioned the church meeting their material needs.   Female-Led Cult Characteristics  In keeping with other female cult leaders, Jane has strategically increased her proximity to power in a variety of ways and utilized patriarchal norms to rise to power. After obtaining power, she began to create a more egalitarian, in some ways even matriarchal, religious space. Jane increased her proximity to power in a variety of ways. When she began her career as a minister, she worked alongside her husband, who was viewed as the main pastor under the charismatic, evangelical ministry of Rhema Bible College. Her debut within this type of religion helped increase her power and legitimacy despite being a female; Evangelical Christianity is the dominant religion in America. She started by being a women’s pastor and was largely successful. With this success came power; she eventually announced that God told her husband she was to be the main pastor, and after being ousted from Rhema, she returned to North Carolina to take 61  primary control of WOF (Weiss and Mohr 2020:72-73). As discussed, Jane utilized the desirable and powerful social statuses of followers in multiple ways. This was a main theme across my analyses.  Like other female cult leaders, Jane dabbled in some of the patriarchal norms surrounding this sect of Christianity. The uniform of WOF congregants is gendered; however, female members don’t wear dresses, but power suits. While subtle, this could suggest that women in the group are viewed on more equal footing with men; they are dressed like businesswomen, and the men are dressed like businessmen. Jane has adopted some of the ideas present in purity culture: Female ex-members have recounted being instructed to downplay their beauty so as not to tempt men (Weiss and Mohr 2020:209). On the church website, there were a couple of mentions of gender roles within marriage. In the “Our Beliefs” section, the writer described marriage as an act of mutual submission. However, under the “Weddings” portion, the writer cites a verse highlighting wives specifically submitting to their husbands. This suggests Jane, like other female cult leaders, uses patriarchal ideas when they serve her purposes, but may discard them when they no longer meet her goals. While Jane has used patriarchal ideas within WOF, she has taken multiple measures to shift power away from males in the group and towards women. Similar to other female cult leaders, Jane has done this by limiting/banning procreation, promoting adoption, placing women in positions of power and using acts of subjugation to degrade men.   Jane limits procreation by deciding herself who gets married to whom and when they may begin to have sex. As an additional precaution, couples who are allowed to have sex are required to use condoms to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy (Weiss and Mohr 2020:201-203). If congregants want to conceive, they must first get permission from Jane (Weiss and Mohr 62  2020:106). Cult members frequently use the foster care system to adopt and grow their group. There have been multiple instances in which the church was accused of kidnapping children; they would take children into foster care, manipulate them and convince courts to allow them to maintain custody (Weiss and Mohr 2020:131). Another individual alleged that members offered to watch her child temporarily when she was sent to prison, only for them to take her to court once she got out and gain full guardianship over her child (Weiss and Mohr 2020:367-368).  As I have noted in other female-led cults, these methods are used to increase the power of female adherents as they are able to maintain their influence within the group without needing to take leaves of absence for pregnancy. Additionally, Jane has placed many women in positions of power within WOF. Throughout Mitch Weiss’s and Holbrook Mohr’s book, many of the leaders mentioned were women (2020:203) and the directors of the museum, as shown on the Holocaust Museum website, are both women. This was further supported by my findings within the participant observation—much of the museum tour centered on the experiences of women victims and saviors during the Holocaust. Finally, cult leadership has defected from patriarchal norms by using acts of subjugation targeting men. I observed a few examples of this throughout the Weiss and Mohr’s book. “The Lower Room,” a building on WOF grounds, was alleged to be a torture chamber used exclusively for males. Men and boys who battled with “sexual demons” were sent here by Jane and were physically and verbally abused until Jane believed they are ready to be released, an indefinite amount of time that in some circumstances lasted months (Weiss and Mohr 2020:220-225). While everyone (except Jane) at the church gets blasted, ex-members recall boys being targeted more frequently (Weiss and Mohr 2020:139-142).  63  Additionally, on the museum website, I noticed the adult men in the video referred to themselves frequently as “boys.” This may also be a sign that males within the group are demeaned through being referred to as children, just as members of society outside of the cult will refer to grown women as “girls” to infantilize them. These observations show support for my theory of how female cult leaders rise to power within a patriarchal society and then shift power away from males once established in their group.    64  CHAPTER 4. PHILOSEMITISM, TRAGEDY APPROPRIATION, AND EMOTIONAL INCONGRUENCE  As explained earlier, WOF adherents utilized both philosemitism and tragedy appropriation. However, due to their status as a marginalized group, their approach to philosemitism differed from members of dominant groups. WOF used philosemitism to increase social status and prestige, whereas dominant Christian groups employ philosemitism to maintain power and further a political agenda (Carenen 2012:182-183). Like dominant Christian groups, WOF members use philosemitism as a means of tragedy appropriation. However, due to their vulnerable status, this appropriation was more subtle and less all-encompassing when compared to that of their mainstream Christian brethren, appearing to be used primarily for in-group purposes rather than out-group communication with outsiders. Philosemitism The evidence of WOF’s use of philosemitism was most conspicuous through the museum website analysis and participant observation. On the website, the writer claimed the church was chosen by God to be the spokesman to many parts of the world about the horrors of the Holocaust, suggesting a feeling of semi-ownership over the tragedy. This became more blatantly philosemitic when I noticed their emphasis on Jewish Holocaust victims to the near exclusion of other groups who were also victimized. On the museum website, the Holocaust was defined as a tragedy that specifically impacted Jewish people; other populations impacted were only mentioned once. In the museum tour, other populations impacted by the Holocaust were only mentioned twice and were displayed once. When they were mentioned, it was brief and mentioned in tandem with Jewish persecution. Additionally, the Romani population was mentioned using a common term now deemed a slur. This shows that WOF likely did not do 65  their due diligence when researching these other populations to ensure their displays were accurate and inoffensive; non-Jewish groups were deemed not important enough to be as carefully researched as the rest of the museum. This almost-exclusive focus on Jewish victims suggests philosemitism as an underlying motive behind the operation of a Holocaust Museum.   WOF adherents use their Holocaust Museum to increase their social power and legitimacy by association with Jewish people and their experiences. Importantly, this deviates from how and why mainstream Christians use philosemitism: to maintain power and proliferate political ideologies such as Zionism (Carenen 2012:182-183). I observed WOF’s use of the Holocaust Museum to gain social prestige in a few different ways. For one, the museum was not used to produce income for the church and did not appear to have been visited regularly. I became aware of this for a few different reasons. For example, I was given the tour for free, was not asked for a donation and was given free materials such as a water bottle, brochures, pamphlets and postcards by default at the end of the tour. This rules out the museum as a means to increase church income.  Additionally, I found multiple pieces of evidence that the museum itself is not visited often and is instead used primarily as a storehouse. This is important because the cult is situated within a small town; the group’s use of the museum seems aimed to draw notoriety beyond what a small town can offer. I deduced this for multiple reasons. For one, the museum is available by appointment only, suggesting they are not visited enough to be consistently staffed. When I originally reached out to make an appointment, no one answered the phone. I left a voicemail, but no one called me back. After a few months, a new post was left on the museum Google reviews, complaining that they too were unable to successfully contact museum staff to schedule a visit. I reached out again to museum staff via email shortly after this review was left and was 66  responded to almost immediately. After confirming my appointment, I received an additional email the day before the tour to confirm I was still attending. I then received a phone call from museum staff the morning of the visit to again ensure I was still planning to show. This excessive questioning, and my initial difficulty obtaining a response, made me think they likely do not often have visitors.  Additionally, during the tour, the guide noticed a plaque had fallen off the wall. Upon picking it up, they exclaimed that it likely detached from the wall due to excessive heat. Because I visited in the middle of winter, this suggested that a tour had not been given for at least a few months. This evidence of the museum’s infrequent use, and the fact that they did not attempt to proselytize me, suggests the group must be generating value from this asset in another way.  After analyzing the data, I found the group used the museum as a means to gain prestige from a larger audience than available within their town. They use the museum as a piece of social capital, to show to the public that they are a reliable source of information about a historic and religious topic. This was evidenced on the tour, where the guide informed me that most of their exhibits were light and mobile so they could be easily transported. The guide said they frequently attend conferences and other events about the Holocaust around the country, bringing three tractor trailers full of displays with them. This was also listed on their museum website; an entire section was devoted to showing the multitude of events they had attended.  In addition, the guide exhibited a few notable behaviors throughout the tour that suggested a desire for status through the use of the museum. Throughout the tour, all of the displays except for those housed in one room were artistic renderings, not real artifacts. When we got to the room in which the only real artifacts were located, the guide and their friend became visibly excited and referred to the room as treasure. The guide insinuated that curators at 67  other museums would be impressed by these artifacts, and said they were going to publish a book based upon them.  On top of this, the guide frequently mentioned seeking the approval of Jewish people and scholars throughout the creation of the museum. The guide said they added a multitude of displays based upon the input of various Jewish people, noting that they added Jewish religious items and an entire Zionist room at the request of Jewish patrons. The guide mentioned this a few times, seemingly as a way to prove that they were a reliable source of information about the Holocaust. I also noticed this conflation with Jewish approval and social status on the museum website. In one vignette, the writer detailed an instance in which a Holocaust survivor referred to a member of WOF as a “true Christian,” as if this statement somehow evidences the group’s authenticity.  Additionally, the guide stated that all of the art and displays in the museum were directly copied from other museums, and provided me with a list of large, influential Holocaust museums from which images were procured. This suggests the group is trying to gain notoriety by replication. More specifically, by directly copying successful Holocaust museums. It was evident to me that the group had invested large amounts of time and effort into this endeavor. The museum was nearly overflowing with displays and I, as well as many Google reviewers, were impressed with the guide’s extensive knowledge of the Holocaust. The group’s multiple attempts at being seen as legitimate by outsiders in this regard suggest the primary function of the museum: to improve the overall social image and prestige that outsiders might associate with WOF.   68  Tragedy Appropriation WOF leaders engage in tragedy appropriation through the Holocaust Museum. However, they did so in a more subtle, unique way than other American Christians. Since mainstream Protestant Christians are a dominant social group within America, they do not need to obtain approval from the Jewish community in how they represent the Holocaust. American Christian Protestants often center themselves within the Holocaust narrative, disproportionately focusing on German Christians as victims of the Holocaust (Carenen 2012:52-55). WOF adherents, as a marginalized group, were unable to do this as they lacked this type of social power. Instead, they had to yield to critiques received from the Jewish community to gain legitimacy. At the museum, Christians were displayed as the perpetrators of the Holocaust, not as the victims, with the vast majority of the tour focusing on Jewish victims. However, WOF still appropriated the tragedy of the Holocaust in a few distinct ways: paralleling, apocalypticism, and using Jewish trauma responses as fodder for their religious growth.  WOF members appropriated the Holocaust by paralleling their own perceived persecution with the discrimination faced by the Jewish people in the beginnings of the Holocaust. Due to many of their alleged crimes, WOF members have been in and out of the court system and have been targeted by a few journalists. Many members view this as a form of religious persecution, believing that any criticisms from outsiders are merely lies. I observed evidence of this paralleling of experiences on the museum website and in my participant observation. On the website, one of the speakers on the homepage video mentioned that some of the discrimination faced by their church was similar to what Jewish people faced in the years leading up to the Holocaust. This was mirrored during the participant observation: At the beginning of the tour the guide alleged that like Jewish victims, members of WOF suffered from 69  the lies and discrimination from outsiders through no fault of their own. Although this indicates WOF’s appropriation, each time this was mentioned they were apt to ensure that the listeners knew the discrimination they experienced was far less substantial than that of Jewish victims.  WOF also used the Holocaust Museum to appropriate tragedy through apocalypticism. Instead of using the Holocaust highlight Christian victimization as mainstream Evangelicals may do, WOF uses the Holocaust as a template for an impending, more brutal apocalyptic event on the horizon that they expect to face. This was made evident to me a few times on the tour, when the guide insinuated that an event worse than the Holocaust was going to occur in America. At one point, they discussed the census Nazis used to keep track of the location of Jewish victims. The guide began wondering aloud how much more quickly a similar event could occur in the United States, given the amount of personal information the government maintains. They then suggested that such an event would be worse than the Holocaust, as the government would be able to be more efficient with modern technology. This was alluded to offhand a few more times throughout the tour. Importantly, none of the displays showed a possible apocalyptic event happening to the United States. This was something the guide was able to present at their own discretion, perhaps suggesting this is a topic the guide considers frequently. Ultimately, this approach allows WOF members to adhere to the advice of Jewish contributors while also using the Holocaust for their own means through more subtle tactics. While outsiders are able to listen and learn about the Holocaust, insiders are able to hear the true meaning of it, a warning of what is to come. Lastly, members of WOF appropriated the tragedy of the Holocaust by using the experiences of victims as an emotional and religious blueprint for how their members should or should not react to trauma. This theme was emergent, and I observed this only during the tour. 70  The guide brought it up multiple times. WOF members frequently listen to the testimonies of Holocaust victims. This was mentioned by the guide and consistent with what I found on the museum website. However, they appear to categorize the survivors into two groups based upon how they responded to the trauma they experienced in the Holocaust. If survivors of the Holocaust were able to heal, were religious, and able to emotionally come to terms with the trauma they experienced, they were viewed as good examples to follow. If the victims responded to their trauma by being unable to move on from their experience, or had lasting negative emotions from what happened to them, they were viewed as poor examples of how to respond to adversity. The guide mentioned with disapproval that those in this second group were usually not as religious. Additionally, the guide mentioned with an expression of annoyance that some of the survivors who were scarred for life from their experience made more criticisms of their museum and were more particular about how things were displayed. This dichotomy of categorizing Jewish victims as good or bad based upon how they emotionally responded to their trauma was mentioned ten times throughout the tour. It seems the group uses this to educate members on how they are expected to respond to trauma and persecution in general, but perhaps more specifically, how they should respond to the impending apocalypse.  Emotional Incongruence  Emotional incongruence was an emergent theme that appeared throughout my data analyses. This occurred anytime a feeling rule (Hochschild 1979) was broken; I observed it in members of WOF and non-members. This theme illustrates that emotional incongruence is experienced by both in-group and out-group members, illuminating the impacts of isolation and polarization on cult members’ perception of reality and perhaps an emphasis on attempts to perform for outsiders.  71   I first observed this theme on the Holocaust Museum website. In the museum overview video, I watched a scene in which members of WOF were celebrating the opening of the Holocaust Museum. To commemorate, they had a group of children performing a song and dancing before a crowd. This type of commemoration seemed to be overly joyous for a solemn topic, and more interestingly, the children’s faces appeared unhappy despite dancing in a joyous manner. This theme continued in the video on the home page. The speakers began discussing their experiences with creating the Holocaust Museum, and while they maintained a sincerely reverent demeanor for the majority of the video, there were times where they began to display emotional incongruence. When speaking about how working on the museum impacted them personally, they stated they “enjoyed” working on the museum and happily discussed at length the positive impacts that studying the Holocaust had on their lives.  As previously discussed, the emotional incongruence theme emerged in both positive and negative posters on the Google reviews for the Holocaust Museum. Positive posters described the museum in overly excitable terms despite the seriousness of the subject, and some negative reviewers referred to the museum as “creepy.” I also experienced this feeling of unease during the Holocaust tour; some of the displays appeared uncanny (see Figure 2). Like the positive Google reviewers, the guide’s friend displayed an overly-positive emotional demeanor throughout the tour. While they did not respond to the tour guide in this way, each time I looked over at them or anytime they looked towards me they were grinning. This, as well as some of the displays, made me feel uneasy. Additionally, the guide displayed emotional incongruence before and after the tour. Perhaps as a form of love bombing, the guide was wearing an exaggerated smile and was overly accommodating before and after the tour. This suggests that some of the more performative, positive instances of emotional incongruence by cult members may have an 72  unintended impact on outsiders, who may become uncomfortable with this incongruence. The proliferation of emotional incongruence throughout my analyses may indicate the group is highly isolated, as many of them are seemingly unintentionally breaking social norms related to feelings rules.   Figure 2. Woman Holding a Deceased Infant by Olivia Summers at The Holocaust Museum    73  CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION  The findings of this study suggest many important ideas for sociologists of religion to consider. As hypothesized, WOF is both a sectarian group and a cult. This suggests the term new religious movement as a catch-all to include cults with other new religions is an ineffective way to classify religious groups, as WOF is not a new religious movement. Additionally, as proposed, cults are necessarily abusive and should be classified by the presence of abuse. This distinction is important because attempting to lump cults in with largely harmless new religious movements could lead to conflating these already vulnerable religious minorities with groups that are truly dangerous. Cults are abusive and should be considered as their own distinct entity within the sociology of religion to better understand how they work and what can be done to minimize their harmful effects. Additionally, the findings in this study suggest the rubric I proposed for cult identification is reliable. Future researchers should further test this rubric for reliability on other cultic groups.  In addition to the contributions of classification, this study illuminates the lack of available literature within the social sciences about how female-led cults operate. Due to this absence, I analyzed how female cult leaders gain and maintain power, and how they create a more egalitarian or at times matriarchal environment within their own groups. This contributes to the literature about how women gain power within a patriarchal society, as well, and provides a gendered framework for studying female-led cults for future scholars. My findings in this study indicate this outline is reliable and shows female cult leaders approach authority and control differently than male leaders. Future scholars should apply this to other female cultic groups to further test its reliability.  74   This study contributes to current understandings of philosemitism within Protestant Christian spaces. This topic has been well-researched, with research showing mainstream Protestants often using blatant philosemitism to achieve political goals such as Zionism or to steal narratives from other groups (Carenen 2012:182-183). This is perhaps the first study examining how a non-mainstream Evangelical Protestant cult approaches philosemitism and shows they do so differently than those in the mainstream. Unlike mainstream religion, cults do not engage in political activity unless it is as a protective measure for their group. This was evident within this study. The cult’s approach to philosemitism was not political, rather, it was used to increase in-group bonds through tragedy appropriation and gaining prestige with outsiders. Their philosemitism was also more subtle and less overtly offensive than that of mainstream religions, likely due to a lack of social power necessary to get away with displaying and transforming a historic tragedy without regard for how they are viewed by the Jewish community. Subsequent researchers should consider whether this type of engagement with philosemitism is present among other vulnerable populations.  Another contribution this study makes to sociology as a whole is the identification of tragedy appropriation. My findings indicate this to be a viable way to explain how and why members of some groups become fixated on tragedies that members of different groups have suffered, and the ways in which they use them for their own purposes. This study also shows how marginalized groups may exercise greater caution and restraint in tragedy appropriation compared with more socially dominant groups (Carenen 2012:182-183). Future researchers should consider adopting this lens when studying other groups that engage in tragedy appropriation to further develop whether this phenomenon is frequently used and proliferated within other groups. 75   This study contributes to existing research suggesting members of cults are marginalized and share many similarities with victims of domestic violence (Wolfson 2002). Adherents of cults face abuse from within their group on top of marginalization from outsiders. Being viewed negatively by members of society at large likely contributes to their inability to leave. Classifying a group as a cult in this way is a strength because it denotes members as belonging to a vulnerable population. Social scientists and lawmakers should consider cult members as marginalized and consider creating social programs to assist members should they need assistance with leaving the group and adjusting to society. Future researchers should consider interviewing ex-members to explore what programs or types of assistance should be implemented to assist with departure and how they can be made available to members of isolated groups.   While this study makes many contributions to sociological literature, it has notable multiple limitations. Perhaps the largest shortcoming of this study is that I did not conduct interviews. Though I was able to use Weiss and Mohr’s book to support much of my data, those interviews were not systematic and were done only with ex-members and outsiders of the group. Future researchers should include interviews with in-group and out-group members when studying cults to obtain more valid, less one-sided data about how people experience cults. Additionally, due to the lack of interview data, there were some parts of this study I was unable to confirm through the types of data collection I used. For example, I was unable to determine more taboo topics like sexual deviancy and coerced illegal activities from content analysis and participant observation alone. Researchers seeking to study cults should consider using interviews to study these more secretive aspects within groups that may be otherwise unobtainable data sources.  76   Another limitation in this study was the lack of thoroughness I was able to apply to emergent themes, such as emotional incongruence and the categorization of Jewish people as good or bad. Given their emergent nature, these themes were unexpected, and should be explored through hypothesizing to see if these themes commonly emerge in similar groups. Additionally, future researchers should analyze the conditions that lead to a group’s expression of emotional incongruence, and the relationship this may have with policing the behaviors and emotional responses of victimized populations.  Lastly, due to the vastly different speech patterns used by insiders and outsiders of WOF, future researchers should consider using a more focused sociological analysis of emotions to understand how and why communication is approached differently among groups. While some of these differences can be explained through love bombing and the group’s reaction to marginalization, the scope of this study was not broad enough to examine these phenomena further and therefore remains incomplete.   While this study primarily contributes to the sociology of religion, many of the findings are of use to sociologists of gender, race, and politics. The findings of this study raise important questions about how sociologists of religion classify groups and the lack of attention paid to female-led cults within the social sciences. This analysis also contributes to scholars’ current understanding of philosemitism and proposes a new concept, tragedy appropriation, to describe an important social phenomenon. Further, this study adds to the existing literature on cult members being marginalized and raises important questions as to how society can implement systems to afford cult victims the resources they need should they choose to exit the group. 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Johnson City, Tennessee April, 2022.

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