Rashad Jamal might protest descriptions of the University of Cosmic Intelligence, but Police Major Steve Runge of Berkeley, Missouri thinks its purpose is plain as day. The only difference is where it’s headquartered. “Everything’s on the internet now, so why not have a cult on the internet?” he said to Fox 2 Now. A look at the organization’s website shows videos on esoteric topics and spiritual memes mingling with a shop for crystals, soaps, and necklaces priced north of $100 and outgoing links to dead social media accounts.

Looking past the website, Runge found that the university promotes polygamy and antigovernment attitudes, while Vice reported that it trumpets anti-vaccine rhetoric and a concept of Black nationalism taken to the extreme. Jamal preaches that Black and Latino people are gods, and he himself is a semi-divine being on a mission to save all of Earth. He also endorses some truly strange conspiracy theories, from the idea that NBA players are robots to an alien spacecraft invading a mall in Miami (per The Guardian).

The disappearances from St. Louis aren’t the first time members of the university have made the news, either. Two of them were arrested for murder in Alabama in 2022, and another was accused of killing his own mother the same year. According to Runge, neighbors of the missing St. Louis six described them as worshipping the sun and going out into their backyard naked.

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