28 Sept 2026
Europe & UK Cult News: 20–26 September 2026
- Europe & UK Cult News
- UK
- Europe
- France
- Czechia
- Spain
- Netherlands
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Serbia
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light
- AROPL
- File on 4
- Human Rights Without Frontiers
- Kutná Hora
- Athanor
- Opus Dei
- Society of Saint Pius X
- Lighthouse
- Catrin Nye
- yoga
- Shakahola
- Australia
- Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
- Exclusive Brethren
- PBCC
- Bruce Hales
- Happy Happy
- Chris Brain
- Nine O'Clock Service
- Domradio
- Münster
- geistlicher Missbrauch
- Christusgemeinschaft
- Totus Tuus
- Germany
Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body moves the four main blood components to personal conscience while keeping the whole-blood ban. Critics say the change comes too late for those who died under the old rule.
In the UK, BBC File on 4 revisits Crewe's Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light investigation and books the Brussels non-governmental organisation (NGO) Human Rights Without Frontiers as its religious-freedom voice. The same NGO has defended the Unification Church (the Moonies) and Scientology.
Czech courts free two women from Kutná Hora, a town east of Prague, pending dovolání, an extraordinary Supreme Court appeal, after murder sentences for killing their guru. France's Athanor leader sees his rape conviction raised to twenty years on appeal.
HBO Max drops El buen espíritu on Opus Dei numerarios, celibate members who live under the organisation's discipline, as Spanish and Dutch press weigh recruitment and control. Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) friction shadows Pope Leo's France visit after Lourdes, the Marian shrine in the Pyrenees, bars an SSPX pilgrimage.
Lighthouse's leader emails BBC staff “God Help Catrin Nye” after a Crown Court appeal loss. French outlets cover Élodie Emery's La face cachée du yoga on sexual violence and emprise, psychological hold, in yoga teaching.
Beyond Europe, Kenyan authorities move toward burying 443 unclaimed Shakahola remains.
In Australia, leaked ministries from Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC / Exclusive Brethren) leader Bruce Hales, and Northern Territory election-inquiry claims of booth intimidation, keep the church in the news.
Also this week: a Dutch embezzlement case tied to Happy Happy money, the Védrines family château case in south-west France, an El País interview with a private detective who refused further cult jobs, Latvian “neesam sekta” (“we are not a cult”) politics, and a crash in Belgrade's Karaburma district near the old Crna Ruža site.
Update: Chris Brain denies sexual assault charges as his Inner London Crown Court retrial continues. Domradio reports the University of Münster study of geistlicher Missbrauch, spiritual abuse, in Catholic communities including the Christusgemeinschaft and Totus Tuus.
'/><text x='70' y='320' fill='white' font-size='64' font-family='Georgia,serif'>Freedom Times</text><text x='70' y='390' fill='%23ffe8bf' font-size='34' font-family='Georgia,serif'>Voices of survivors across the UK and Europe</text></svg>)