Cult leaders should be prosecuted like abusive spouses, say MPs
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Cult leaders should be prosecuted under the same laws as abusive spouses, MPs have said.
Controlling or coercive behaviour in the home is a crime in the UK punishable by up to five years in prison.
However, victims of cult leaders don’t have the same protections under the law.
Now politicians are considering broadening its scope to include those who set up abusive communes.
Sam Carling, a Labour MP and former Jehovah’s Witness, is lined up to be chairman of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) looking into spiritual and cultic abuse.
He said: “A key focus will be legislative changes to the coercive control laws, and to remove the automatic right of any group that sets itself up as a religion to be given charitable status.
“We need to raise awareness of the tactics cults use to harm and manipulate people.”
The push to change the law is led by survivors of the Jesus Fellowship, also known as the Jesus Army, which was set up in 1969 in Northamptonshire by Noel Stanton, a pastor of a Baptist church.
Read more https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/cult-leaders-prosecuted-abusive-spouses-120524486.html
