Religious cults of America's Northwest, a tradition that continues today

SEATTLE WEEKLY
By Seth Goodkind
Photo © Samvado Gunnar Kossatz for Get Religion
The decline and disintegration of Mars Hill Church last year may have surprised some, but to others it was predictable, and not without precedent. The Pacific Northwest has been home to numerous utopian communes and fanatical religious groups, from the radical to the deeply conservative. Since the arrival of European Christianity and its normative pall, outsider and fringe belief has been a staple of the local culture. From Eastern philosophies to the syncretic, the Pacific Northwest has been a site of religious demagoguery for ages, and the present is no exception. [link]
Text & Art by Seth Goodkind