And when they weren’t, physical restraint over their bodies and mouths was expected,” said ex-member Jason Wolfe, 46. She will not be freed until she surrenders, former members said. The toddler might scream and cry and struggle for an hour. When a toddler throws a tantrum in the Twelve Tribes, an adult might grab the girl, hold her tight on his lap - perhaps by throwing his leg over hers - restrain both her arms and put his hand over her mouth until she stops fighting back. And now, as adults still working through the trauma of their childhoods, they worry for the kids still caught inside. The Twelve Tribes taught that it was different from false religions - like mainstream Christianity - because “their children would follow them,” he said.īut the Twelve Tribes’ children fled in droves. If you are not beating your kids, you are going to be in big trouble.” “I was under no circumstances going to beat my kids the way I was beaten,” said a former member who left in his 30s and spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity to protect family members still in the cult. Many - most, by some counts - of the first kids raised in the cult have left, driven out by the group’s practices and leadership’s increasingly tight grip on the shrinking membership that remains.įor many ex-members, the decision to leave came with parenthood. In recent years, the Twelve Tribes has experienced a mass exodus among the first generation of children born and raised in the group. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Twelve Tribes as a “Christian fundamentalist cult.” The group can be considered a cult because it has a charismatic authoritarian leader, extremist ideology, an all-or-nothing belief system, and uses coercion to control and exploit members, cult expert Janja Lalich said. The largest number of Twelve Tribes communities are in the U.S., but the sect also has a presence in South America, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan. An estimated 40 people live at the Eldorado Springs Drive compound, and another 25 or so in a house in Manitou Springs. The Twelve Tribes moved into Colorado in the early 2000s, first establishing a compound in Manitou Springs before expanding to Boulder in 2010 members now run the Yellow Deli in Boulder and a café in Manitou Springs. Twelve Tribes: A Black father’s struggle to pull his daughter from the racist cult “It’s amazing how everyone can think bad about you. “We try to do good to everyone,” said Tim Pendergrass, a current Twelve Tribes leader who lives in a Florida commune. But those who spoke defended the Twelve Tribes and its practices. The group also didn’t respond to emailed questions. Leaders in the Twelve Tribes contacted by The Post either declined to comment or spoke only briefly, saying they were wary of publicity after past bad experiences with the press. Anderson, 35, now lives in Boulder and is going by her middle and former married names in this story to avoid being identified by current cult members.
“Nobody understands the real horror underneath until you’ve lived it,” said Alina Anderson, a former member born into the cult who left in 2001 at age 14.
In a series of three stories over the next week, The Post will detail accounts of ex-members about living inside the Twelve Tribes, spotlighting three major problems identified by former followers: that the group requires excessive corporal punishment and fails to protect children from sexual abuse, exploits members for labor and money, and espouses racist, misogynistic and homophobic teachings.
The Post reviewed nearly 400 pages of Twelve Tribes’ teachings and combed through court, real estate, business and historical records in reporting on the sect. The Twelve Tribes attracts new members with a folksy peace-and-love, all-are-welcome message, but underneath that hollow promise of utopia lies a manipulative cult that seeks to maintain complete control of its followers, 10 former members told The Denver Post in 26 hours of interviews. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menuįew on the Front Range know much about the insular religious group, whose 3,000-some members live communally in Colorado and across the nation and world, and take pains to present an innocuous front to outsiders.