The Cult That Helped Shape Christian America: The Community of Jesus child abuse and Christian Nationalism with Ewan Whyte

About this episode

Ewan Whyte discusses his experiences in the Community of Jesus and its impact on Christian nationalism in America.

The Community of Jesus was founded in 1970 by two housewives, Cay Anderson and Judy Sorensen. They told members they were "God's anointed" with a direct line to God. Any authority figure they appointed carried that same divine authority. Members were taught to obey without questioning the leadership’s authority. I spoke with former member and award-nominated writer Ewan Whyte. His fifth book, Mothers of Invention: Essays on the Community of Jesus and Grenville Christian College, details life inside this cult and its affiliated boarding school in Canada. Ewan was raised in the group from childhood. He knows this organization from the inside, and what he shares deserves your full attention. The Community of Jesus is one of three surviving original covenant communities founded in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The other two are the Word of God, founded in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and People of Praise 1972, - founded around the same time and known today as the community Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is closely associated with. Of the three, the Community of Jesus has been, as Ewan argues, is historically, the most politically influential in shaping American evangelical…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Steven Hassan

Guest: Ewan Whyte

Topics covered

• Christian nationalism
• cult influence
• American evangelical culture
• child abuse
• community dynamics

Keywords

• Community of Jesus
• Christian nationalism
• Ewan Whyte
• cult
• American evangelical culture
• child abuse
• Mothers of Invention

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Community of Jesus, Grenville Christian College, Word of God, People of Praise

Books & works: The Light and the Glory

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