The
Process Church of the Final Judgement has been repeatedly linked to Charles
Manson and his followers, but it seems this was rather unfair to the cult.
However, they truly started out as a Scientology schism group, making them plenty
scary enough. Yet, the former members do not remember it that way. The
so-called church was just a part of the 1960s. The cult’s rise and fall are
chronicled in Neil Edwards’ bizarre documentary Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of the Process Church of the
Final Judgement (trailer
here), which
screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.
Everyone
basically acknowledges the Process Church was essentially, strictly speaking,
more or less a cult, but as cult’s go, it was relatively harmless. They may
have fleeced some silly rich members, but they were nothing like Jim Jones’
socialist Peoples Temple or Charles Manson’s evil flower children. They argue
they were wrongly demonized as Satanists due their strange Trinity of Jehovah,
Satan, and Lucifer, sometimes expanded into a quartet including Jesus. According
to the former Processeans, it was really all about the ultimate forgiveness and
reconciliation of Heaven and the fallen angels. Satan and Lucifer were also
somehow separate and distinct, but there is really no point in getting hung up
on that.
Of
course, the Processeans played their roles to the hilt, parading through London’s
fashionable Mayfair district in black capes. Charismatic former Scientologist
(and official Suppressive Person) Robert De Grimston was the cult’s front man,
but former members consider his wife Mary Ann to have been the real brains of
the operation. It seems she was the one who decided they had to relocate to Mexico,
where adventures ensued.
Obviously,
the former members are remain uber-defensive when it comes to Manson. Maybe he
picked up parts of their doctrine or maybe not, but they were certainly
inviting extreme personality types. All of Edwards’ interview subjects clearly
think the lack of a mass grave with the Process Church’s name on it vindicates
them on all counts and by the standards of the 1960s counter-culture they are
probably right, but they are still weird.
How
weird were they? Weird enough to attract the attention of John Waters, who duly
sits for interview segments. Even if you are incredulous about all facets of
the Process Church, their story is absolutely train-wreck fascinating. Edwards tells
it well, teasing out many wonderfully strange details and conveying a sense of
their milieu through era-evocative animated sequences.
