Attorney Bobby Samini and former ICOC leader Michele Roland discuss their lawsuits on behalf of former members of this Bible cult

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2023

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Shepherding/discipling Bible cults like the International Churches of Christ have an authoritarian structure with the “apostle” or “prophet” being the person closest to God and everyone else having a human to disciple over them all the way down. It is patently abusive by its nature as it is based on submission of one’s own conscience and following directions of a person who is in the “role of Jesus” over them. Lawsuits are being filed on behalf of those victimized in the cult, some of whom were sexually assaulted in the group and no responsible action was taken. Over one million people have been involved with this group, most of whom have exited. Most have never spoken out about the abuses they experienced- including breaking sessions, excessive pressure to donate money, or the loss of their personal autonomy and sense of self. If you are interested in legal issues or have been in a controlling Christian group of any kind, you will want to listen to this fascinating episode. Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with a very unique episode of the influence continuum.
0:10.4	Today I have two amazing guests with me, Michelle Rowland and Bobby Samini.
0:19.1	Michelle and I know each other for a bunch of years.
0:22.2	She's the survivor of the International Churches of Christ.
0:25.8	She was a woman's leader.
0:28.1	I think 17 years were you involved?
0:32.5	And you are a phenomenon.
0:36.1	I'm just going to read a little bit about you for our intro. Then we'll do Bobby, the attorney extraordinaire, and then we'll get into it.
0:46.9	So you are an entrepreneur, author, producer, brand developer. You win lots of awards for content and sizzle reels. You found
0:58.7	it a wellness network called Be Well Network with patented and all kinds of products. I use one.
1:05.9	I'm not going to plug it here, but people can find out about this later.
1:12.4	17 years of abuse in this cult that I've known about since about 1981, because it started
1:22.4	here in Lexington, Massachusetts, and I was here for school from college in 77. What else?
1:31.6	Digital platform, indie Netflix. You're working on a streaming scripted series, which I want to hear
1:39.7	more about, but you probably can't talk about it yet here. But the main thing is there's a lawsuit
1:46.0	that you are deeply involved with, and we'll put the link to it, but it's www.
1:54.7	I-O-C-O-C-Lossutes.com. And next I just want to get to our next guest an attorney nationally recognized trial
2:08.5	lawyer and mr. Samini's practice focuses on media sensitive business litigation business litigation, entertainment-related disputes.
2:20.4	You represent members of sovereign families, 25 years of experience, and you're leading
2:26.7	this effort to represent victims of this cult group, if I understand correctly.
2:36.1	Very high profile.
2:38.3	You've nationally recognized news programs, et cetera.
	...

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