They say that all religions lead to the same: the connection with the divine, with god, with the one or with the whole. They also say thate messages of love, union and fraternity have been distorted and that we human beings, in our imperfection and fallibility, are responsible for it.
And so it makes sense: we are finite, misleading, unbalanced and we have spent millions of years trying to understand and decipher the spiritual truths that lie in religions. This wrong: declaring wars in the name of God, building oppressive social systems with the argument of faith and shielding individual and collective errors under the argument of preserving the moral values that by tradition or conviction we follow, often without thoroughly questioning them.
This is without counting how many gurus we have deified, allowing them to destroy everything in their path, how much dogma and sectarianism we have allowed to creep into our daily lives and strip us of our criteria and personal power and, in turn, shape our limits. But each case speaks for itself and is a universe with its own particularities, so we hope that this list will help you judge for yourself the complexity of the matter:
Jesus Camp
Directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
United States 2006
“There are two kinds of people in this world: people who love Jesus and people who don’t”is the phrase that Becky Fisher, a woman who leads a summer camp for children, says, while largely summarizing the mission of this “recreational” space in which devotion and dogmatism are the protagonists. Thus, in a feature film that presents the typical gringo summer camp, with games, music and recreational activities, but where God is at the center, Jesus Camp It is a must-see when it comes to understanding how the political and moral Christian presence is believed to be the ideological solution to all the problems of a troubled country and where children have power.
Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
Directed by Eva Orner
United States and India, 2019
Bikram Choudhuri, like many gurus, he was loved and hated, idolized and feared. In this documentary, filmmaker Eva Orner examines the rise of the founder of hot yoga in the 70’sits growing popularity in the United States and his downfall as disturbing revelations about him and his global empire unfold. An essential feature film for lovers of yoga, Eastern philosophies or those who find valid reflections on feminism for our times.
The Vow
Directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
United States, 2020
Keith Raniere says in this HBO documentary series that it is possible to hack the brain and emotions that sabotage our full potential to truly be who we are. This man that many came to consider a genius and almost a godwas the head and one of the founders of NXIVM, a multilevel company in the United States who arrived in Mexico and that it attracted mainly celebrities, based on the self improvement and where the emotional manipulation, corruption and machismo were hidden under arguments and pseudoscientific explanations. A journey through the life of this controversial man who gradually began to fall as several dark scandals began to be revealed regarding the complex and structural sex cult that became unsustainable from within, are part of this work.
Colonia Dignidad: a German sect in Chile
Chile and Germany, 2015
This documentary series narrates the events that occurred in a isolated colony in Chiledirected by German fugitive Paul Schäferduring Pinochet’s military dictatorship since the decade of the 70s to the 90s. Netflix’s production then focuses on the sectarianism of a Nazi community that moves to Latin Americaleaving behind thousands of scandals of torture and sexual violence that marked thousands of people, in the name of a moral and religious discourse.
wild wild country
Directed by Maclain Way and Chapman Way
United States, 2018
Like many of the stories we have already seen of gurus permeated by fame and darkness, wild wild country is a documentary series that tells the story of the controversial spiritual leader, OSHOits former personal assistant Y a community of Rajneeshpuram followers located in Oregon, United States. Thus, it leads us on a journey in which an almost utopian project to create a community based on love and solidarity, becomes a space where multiple conflicts occur with the locals that later will cross the borders of the state and will greatly question this emblematic figure of Eastern spirituality .
Five films and series about the dark side of religion and spirituality | Radionics