Who is Tulsi Gabbard’s husband Abraham Williams? The surfer artist and their controversial ‘cult’ ties explained
Published By admin with Comments 0
Gabbard started practicing the religion in her teen years. She followed in her mother’s footsteps, who is a convert to Hinduism.
She made history as the first practicing Hindu to be elected to Congress.
The couple are believed to belong to an offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement called the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF).
Gabbard became the first American Samoan elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012.
Critics say the secretive ‘cult’ of SIF, which Gabbard and Williams allegedly have ties to, has intolerant views towards women, gay people and Muslims and seeks to gain access to a back door of mainstream politics.
Meanwhile, they say that the followers of this religion treat its reclusive leader Chris Butler as some kind of all-powerful deity.
It’s unclear where the couple stands on SIF as they have said little publicly about the group.
But their murky ties are enough to raise eyebrows as Gabbard barrels toward one of Trump’s top national security positions.
The Hare Krishna movement, best known for chanting mantras, vegetarianism, and yoga, exploded across America in the 1960s and 1970s. Butler, a surfer in Hawaii, was part of that growth.
A tight-knit community of roughly one thousand followers developed across Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
It reportedly includes members of the Gabbard and Williams families.
Gabbard has called Butler a ‘guru’ and says his message is positive and uplifting.
But some former members of his group have described themselves as survivors of a cult and say Butler was an all-powerful and unquestionable leader.
In an interview with The Independent in 2022, Gabbard’s aunt Dr. Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard accused her niece’s career of being all about the pursuit of power.
She claimed her bid for the White House in 2020 was the culmination of four decades of Butler’s efforts to seek political influence.
‘Once again I find my niece’s apparent penchant for parroting extremist toadies such as Tucker Carlson and vile strongmen such as Vladimir Putin, to be problematic and deeply troubling,’ the retired University of Hawaii professor said at the time.
‘It gives me no pleasure to note that Tulsi’s single governing principle seems to be expedience, which is in effect no principle at all.’
Content retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14339993/Abraham-Williams-Tulsi-Gabbard-surfer-husband-controversial-cult-ties.html.
