Inside Story: March 17

This week Inside Story profiles Miracle and her brother Phil, the children of a ‘cult leader’ from Gloriavale Christian Community who fled the church.

This episode airs in ‘non-NRL’ states.

Their father is an Australian evangelist named Neville Cooper, founder of the Gloriavale Christian community. But don’t let the name fool you. It’s a cult, ruthlessly controlled by Cooper for more than 40 years. A cult now infamous for its survivor accounts of brainwashing, beatings and sexual abuse.

Miracle, Phil and all the kids at Gloriavale grew up totally isolated and terrified of the outside world. Cooper quite literally put the fear of God into them. He brainwashed them to believe the tales of wickedness, sin and debauchery just outside the community’s gates, blindly ignoring the evil in his own backyard.

Soon terrible stories began to emerge about Gloriavale and its leader. Eventually the whole sordid truth was revealed. Remarkably, arrest, jail and scandal haven’t stopped Neville Cooper and his Cooperites, and the Gloriavale Christian Community still lives on.

7:30pm Thursday on Nine (check local guides).