Residents of a New York City neighborhood can count a cult among their many neighbors, according to a report.
The Congregation for the Light calls Manhattan's Murray Hill area home and preaches the impending end of days and the power of karmic retribution to men and women who believe they descend from an Aryan super race that once populated Atlantis, reports the New York Post.
With all the hallmarks of a cult, it's no surprise 'the Light,' as its 200 members call it, also has some disenchanted former members spreading tales of its sinister side.
Former member Paul Arthur Miller described to the Post a young adulthood full of indentured servitude in leader Tom Baer's furniture factory, physical training for a doomsday that never seemed to come and a culture of homophobia.
'The belief is that Planet Earth will be ending soon and we would have to defend our people and safeguard our food and supplies,' 58-year-old Miller recalled to the Post.
'They changed the doomsday date at least twice,' he said. 'We were told it was imminent, weeks or months. People in the cult wouldn't have dental work done because they thought, 'Why bother?''
Miller said the group believed that once that doomsday did finally come, group members would ascend to a planet called Nay where they'd live blissfully and without gender or stomachs.
But only those who did as they were told. Women, for instance, are not allowed to seek out higher education and must in most cases be married off in their teens in order to stay a part of the group.
Inside the Congregation for the Light 'cult' in Manhattan | Daily Mail Online
I know many of these people having lived alongside them in my old neighborhood. They are amongst some of the most horrible, duplicitous, judgmental people I have ever had the sad misfortune to be around. This article just touched the surface of their real characters.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that bit of insight and if you know of any more source material I would love for you to share,,,
Deleteis Don Infante part of this tribe?
ReplyDeleteMichael, I personally am unaware of that name, I would have to do more digging. But I will keep my eyes peeled in case it does pop up,,,TY :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a former member of The Light. Don Infante was part of the group. His wife is Laura, to whom I am related. I have been gone since 2002.
ReplyDeletedave baer jr married don infante's sister
Deletedid josh ever marry?
is wes rayburn a member?
who is the leader?
ReplyDelete