Former Members Allege NJ Doomsday Cult Coerced Women Into Abortions

A church in Ridgewood, New Jersey that has been applauded for its efficiency and devotion in community emergencies has been accused of being a cult by former members and experts alike. The religion centers around the belief that a South Korean woman in her 70s is the physical manifestation of God. Among many alarming accusations, the allegations that officials forced members into having abortions are the most shocking.

Former members claim that because one of the tenets of their beliefs was the idea that the world would end in 2012, congregants were encouraged not to have children. One woman, Michelle Ramirez, has a pending federal lawsuit that details the coerced abortion that still causes her to have nightmares about the apocalypse. Ron Ramos, a former church leader, claimed that he never saw anyone directly tell a member to terminate their pregnancy, though it was often implied.

“It was more like, ‘Why are they still having kids?'” he told The Record.

Michele Colon — who is suing the organization for contributing to the end of her marriage by ostracizing her when she left the church but her husband didn’t — said that a New Jersey leader told her it is “pointless to bring a child into the world because the end is near.”

For their part, the World Mission Society Church of God, which somehow has a 3.5-star rating on Yelp, has responded that being labeled a “cult” is nothing more than a form of “religious intolerance.” In a court filing, they claimed that they are “vulnerable to persecution as any new religion throughout history” because of their “unfamiliar beliefs.”

[image via screengrab]

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