Fiery protester ‘raised in cult’
Cape Cod ‘mind control’ sect
ORLEANS, Mass. — Aaron Bushnell, the US airman who burned himself to death to protest the Gaza war, was allegedly raised in a religious compound accused of being part of “a mysterious and abusive Christian cult.”
The 25-year-old Massachusetts native was raised in the Community of Jesus, an alleged “mind control” group, in the tiny Cape Cod town of Orleans, said former member Susan Wilkins, 59, to The Washington Post.
His parents appear to continue to have strong ties to the murky religious sect — which has reportedly been a vocal online supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Some former members said the Community of Jesus tries to control its members by trapping them in a perpetual state of terror.
“People don’t realize the mind control that goes on in the background,” a former member told the Boston CBS-TV affiliate WBZ.
The group’s Church of the Transfiguration is about 100 yards from the Bushnells’ home — and its spire towers above their abode and the entire neighborhood.
Front-door scripture
An American flag and another titled “An Appeal to Heaven” were flying outside the family’s home Tuesday.
On the front door was a sign with scripture from Genesis 28:17: “He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’ ”
Bushnell’s mother Danielle, 57, has worked for the Community’s publishing arm, Paraclete Press, for years, and his father, David, a construction higher-up, touts links to the group on his Facebook page.
The CBS source said members have been publicly disciplined by being put in the middle of a circle as others scream “at you about something you did, and making you feel like the worst person on Earth.”
The church declined to comment to The Post on Tuesday.
CBS was referred to lawyer Jeffrey Robbins, who said, “Of course, none of these things you say were alleged by someone to have occurred . . . are the ‘policy’ of the community or in any way consistent with its way of life.
“The suggestion otherwise is not merely offensive, it is outrageous,” Robbins said.
Bushnell was with the group at least until 2005, said Wilkins, who left that year after 35 years as a member.