Cult expert explains Attleboro sect

MSNBC/September 1, 2000

Attlelboro - One day after Rebecca Corneau was forced into a health facility to protect her unborn baby, there is new information about the controversial Attleboro religious sect.

Bob Pardon is an expert on cults. He has studied the sect's diary entries, and interviewed members of "The Body." Pardon believes the sect members have taken a doctrine out of the Bible that deals with an individual's withdrawl from the world in order to remain holy before God, and they've taken it to an extreme.

Those outside "The Body" are the non-believers. A diary entry reads: "of 4 1/2 billion inhabitants presently breathing, only a handful, a remnant are being trained. The rest are tools of Satan to try and destroy God's anointed." The body believes its members are the anointed ones.

Former sect member Dennis Mingo says the group has been preparing for the state to take away their children. They have been preparing to go to prison, and they have been expecting all the recent media attention - because this is God's plan. Mingo says he thinks the group likes being in the spotlight.

Individual decision-making isn't an option in this sect. God apparently speaks to them as a group. Pardon calls it a dangerous situation.

Pardon says the group did not start out like this. He says they would have been horrified to have someone come up to them five years ago and say; "five years from now, you're going to be seeing your children die, and you're going to think it's God's will".

Nine members of "The Body" are now in state custody, leaving only 4 women free. Those who know the Corneaus and Robidoux say they started as one big family, and evolved into one dangerous cult.