-
Dominion Christian Centre (c. 2000)
The Dominion Christian Centre (DCC) was an evangelical organization based in Hamilton, Ontario, that drew public attention in the early 2000s. It was founded by Peter and Peggy Rigo. The group described itself as a Bible-based ministry focused on revitalizing downtown Hamilton and training young adults in life skills and entrepreneurship. Over time, it became… Continue reading
-
Virender Dev Dixit (c. 1970)
Virender Dev Dixit was born in India in 1942 inro a Brahmin household and spent much of his childhood studying religious texts. While working toward a doctorate in 1969, Dixit became associated with the Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual movement founded by Lekhraj Kirpalani. After Kirpalani’s death, Dixit stated that the founder’s soul, along with the… Continue reading
-
Divine Truth (2007)
Alan John Miller, better known as A.J. Miller, is an Australian man who claims to be Jesus Christ, with his longtime partner Mary Suzanne Luck claimed to be Mary Magdalene. Together they run a small sect called Divine Truth. Miller was born in 1963 and initially followed a conventional career path, working as a computer… Continue reading
-
Divine Madness Running Club (c. 1990)
The Divine Madness Running Club, also known as “The Community,” is a spiritual organization that places ultramarathon running at the center of its approach to personal development. The club was founded by Marc Tizer in Boulder, Colorado, during the late 1970s and evolved into the Divine Madness Running Club by the early 1990s. Before founding… Continue reading
-
Divine Light Mission (1960)
The Divine Light Mission, known in India as Divya Sandesh Parishad, was established in 1960 by Shri Hans Maharaj Ji. Born in 1900, Shri Hans was initiated into the Sant Mat tradition by the guru Sarupanand Ji. Sant Mat is a mystical movement that combines elements of Hinduism and Sikhism and emphasizes direct spiritual experience.… Continue reading
-
Discordianism (1963)
Discordianism emerged from the U.S. counterculture of the 1960s as a parody religion, but later academic study has suggested that it functions as a “virtual religion” or a genuine spiritual movement for some adherents. It is centered on Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord and has been described as a religion, a new… Continue reading
-
Minnie Dilley (1931)
Minnie Dilley was a member of a long-established family in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. She lived alone and was known locally for her reclusive lifestyle. Her home contained a number of unusual architectural modifications, including steel-reinforced doors and windows bolted from the inside. On April 4, 1931, when she was 76, her body was discovered by… Continue reading
-
Digitalism/Way of the Future (2017)
Anthony Levandowski was born in Belgium in 1980 and moved to California in the mid-1990s. As a teenager, he developed websites for local businesses and engaged in small-scale commerce. In 1998, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley to study industrial engineering and operations research. During his freshman year, he founded an IT services… Continue reading
-
Dianova (1974)
The drug rehabilitation group Le Patriarche, now known as Dianova International, was founded in France in 1974 by Lucien Engelmajer in Saint-Paul-sur-Save, near Toulouse. Its name referenced the founder’s surname, and it adopted a communal living model centered on drug-free withdrawal without chemical substitutes. During the 1970s and 1980s, the association expanded as specialized treatment… Continue reading
-
Diamond Way (1972)
Ole Nydahl, often referred to as “Lama Ole,” is a Danish teacher associated with the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born on March 19, 1941, and grew up in an academic family in Copenhagen. In his early adulthood, he pursued interests that included boxing, motorcycle racing and philosophy studies at the University… Continue reading
-
Diamond Mountain (2000)
Michael Roach was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He attended Princeton University, and during his college years, his academic path was interrupted by personal events, including the deaths of his parents and the suicide of a brother. Around this time, he became increasingly involved in Eastern spirituality. In 1983, he was ordained as a… Continue reading
-
Diamond Approach/Ridhwan School (1976)
A. Hameed Ali, known by the pen name A. H. Almaas, was born in Kuwait in 1944. At age 18, he moved to the United States to study physics at the University of California, Berkeley. During his doctoral studies, he experienced what he later described as a psychological and spiritual shift. He subsequently left his… Continue reading
-
Dhunami (2008)
Dhunami is a small offshoot of Eckankar that continues the lineage of Darwin Gross, who succeeded Eckankar founder Paul Twitchell in the leadership of that group but who was deposed and erased from Eckankar history under longtime leader Harold Klemp. Gross founded his own offshoot, Ancient Teachings of the Masters (ATOM), which had largely faded… Continue reading
-
Destiny Church (1998)
Brian Raymond Tamaki was born in 1958 in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, as the eldest of five children. He was raised in a rural environment on a family farm. His mother introduced him to Methodism, while he later described his father as largely absent due to alcoholism. Tamaki left secondary school at 15 and worked… Continue reading
-
Desteni (c. 2007)
Desteni was founded sometime in the middle of the first decade of the 2000s by Bernard Poolman, a former police detective from Namibia. The group developed as an online-based political and spiritual movement that built a global network of followers. It presented itself as a self-help and social justice initiative, though former members and researchers… Continue reading
-
Dera Sacha Sauda (1948)
Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), also referred to as the “Dera,” was founded on April 29, 1948, by Mastana Balochistani in Sirsa, India, as a center for religious instruction. Its founding principles emphasized humanitarian service and meditation, with followers required to practice vegetarianism, abstain from intoxicants, and observe marital fidelity. After Balochistani’s death in 1960, leadership… Continue reading
-
Democratic Workers Party (1974)
The Democratic Workers Party (DWP) was a Marxist-Leninist political organization based in California that operated from 1974 until 1987, and that some cult experts consider to have been a political cult centered around founder Marlene Dixon, a sociologist and former professor. It is most well-known because cult expert Janja Lalich is a past member and… Continue reading
-
Juan Pablo Delgado (2000)
The Queen and Lady of All Creation is a Costa Rican religious organization founded in 2000 by Juan Pablo Delgado. Delgado, who was in his early twenties at the time the group gained public attention, claims to receive and transmit direct messages from the Virgin Mary. The organization became widely known for its apocalyptic predictions,… Continue reading
-
Defenders of Christ (c. 2010)
Defensores de Cristo, or Defenders of Christ, was founded in the early 2010s in northern Mexico by Spanish citizen Ignacio Gonzalez de Arriba. The group initially presented itself not as a formal religious movement but as a center for “bio-programming.” This approach claimed to help participants “reprogram” their minds to address psychological distress, including pain,… Continue reading
-
Deeper Christian Life Ministry (1973)
The Deeper Christian Life Ministry, also known as the Deeper Life Bible Church, is an international Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Gbagada, Nigeria. Its origins date to 1973, when William Folorunso Kumuyi, then a mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos, began a Bible study group with 15 students. In 1975, while continuing to lead his… Continue reading
-
Tyler Deaton (c. 2005)
Tyler Deaton rose to prominence as a religious leader whose prayer group later became the subject of a major criminal investigation in Kansas City, Missouri. He was born and raised in Texas and attended Calallen High School in Corpus Christi. Deaton enrolled at Southwestern University, a liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. While there, he… Continue reading
-
John de Ruiter (c. 1990)
John de Ruiter is a Canadian spiritual leader and author who developed an international following through a blend of New Age spirituality and a personalized teaching style. He was born on November 11, 1959, in Stettler, Alberta, to Dutch immigrant parents and was raised in traditional Christian settings. His father worked as a shoemaker, and… Continue reading
-
DayLife Army (2013)
The DayLife Army was a high-control group that emerged in the early 2010s and used social media platforms to recruit young artists and musicians. Its development offers an example of how online subcultures, including the “Weird Facebook” scene, were used to build tightly controlled social organizations. The group was founded by Eben “Wiz-EL” Carlson and… Continue reading
-
Chad and Lori Daybell (c. 2018)
Chad Daybell and Lori Norene Vallow Daybell were central figures in a criminal case involving multiple homicides, extremist religious beliefs, and apocalyptic ideology. Both were raised within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and later became leaders of a small, insular group centered on end-times prophecies. Between 2019 and 2020, at least… Continue reading
-
Camdan Jerrard Davis (2023)
The case of Camdan Jerrard Davis first gained public attention in late 2023, when it began circulating widely within online investigative communities. The narrative was introduced primarily through a series of videos published by YouTuber MamaMax. In these videos, MamaMax alleged that Davis was the leader of an organized cult that targeted children and young… Continue reading
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 