When starting out at university, it’s normal to want to meet new friends and establish a community.

But for some young Australians, that formative time has led them down the path of a secretive and extreme religious group accused of using deceptive tactics to draw in young people: Shincheonji. 

According to one former member, the group took over his life – leaving him sleep deprived and isolated, and teaching him that using his own judgment was dangerous. He described what happened to him as “mind control”.

Since then, similar accounts have been heard by a major Victorian parliamentary inquiry – which has recommended laws to target coercive control by high-control groups.

And Shincheonji itself is under investigation by Australia’s charities regulator.

Journalist Aleisha Orr discusses one young Australian who spent years inside the doomsday church – and what it took for him to get out.

This episode was originally published in March 2024.

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Guest: Journalist Aleisha Orr