A Cult Honoring A White Woman As The Hawaiian Sun God Was Kicked Out Of Hawaii
Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden IslandA police officer in Kauai, Hawaii stands guard as Love Has Won cult members pack up their belongings.
Residents of Hawaii have little tolerance for those trying to profit off of the island’s spiritual appeal. In this next piece of odd news, locals in Kauai protested the arrival of a religious cult called Love Has Won, whose self-proclaimed leader claims to be the reincarnation of the Hawaiian goddess of fire, Pele.
In early September, locals had heard the strange news that 15 cult members had been leisurely operating out of a house in Kauai for an entire month. The group stirred locals by selling vitamin supplements and purported colloidal silver and gold therapeutics; posting profanity-laden tirades about divinity online, and uploading another video of two devotees mocking COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.
In response, a passionate crowd of about 100 locals started to gather around the Love Has Won domicile. They vehemently opposed the group’s predatory ideology and bold appropriation of Hawaiian culture.
The cult’s leader, Amy “Mother God” Carlson, argued that her group was not a cult but a religion, which the U.S. Internal Revenue Service confirmed. Nonetheless, the locals wanted nothing to do with their group.
In the end, the protests were so sizable that a constant police presence was required at the Love Has Won residence, and temporary National Guard vehicles were stationed nearby. Three small fires were set on the beach outside the cult’s rental property. Soon, negotiations for the group to leave began.
This piece of odd news may resurface, however. “Love Has Won” had lost and they left Hawaii, but the organization regrouped in Colorado. Thus, one of the craziest news stories of 2020 might not yet be over.
