Cults and Extreme Belief Canceled A&E Series Not Returning for Season 2

Former members of different groups meet to discuss their shared experiences with Elizabeth Vargas.

Former members of different groups meet to discuss their shared experiences with Elizabeth Vargas.

Many believed that when Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison for child sexual assault, the problems within the FLDS community would be solved–the group would disperse and members would wake up and leave the church. However, when Jeffs was locked away, it left devoted FLDS followers like Norma Richter to face a subsequent humanitarian crisis alone, and forced to fend for themselves in a world they were once taught to fear.

The Twelve Tribes are featured.

Former "Moonie" Teddy Hose, tries to alert the public to a gun-obsessed Unification Church offshoot known as the Sanctuary Church of Newfoundland, Pa. Sean Moon, the charismatic leader and a son of the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon, preaches an extreme gospel featuring his father as "returning Jesus" and guns at the center of worship.

Growing up in the United Nation of Islam (UNOI), Elijah Muhammad was forced into child labor, physical abuse and squalid living conditions. Today he gets to speak to the FBI in hope of getting justice for himself and the others abused by its leader.

Amy Bril recounts her childhood growing up in the Children of God, a group notorious for pedophilia and "religious" prostitution. Amy and others born and raised in the group are banding together to address a suicide epidemic among fellow survivors.

Former Jehovah's Witness Romy Maple—a survivor of child sexual abuse—embarks on a journey to uncover why her pleas for justice were systematically ignored by top members of the organization.

Cults and Extreme Belief examines the "self-help" group NXIVM which has been catapulted into the spotlight with the recent arrest of its leader and a high-profile actress/member on charges of sex-trafficking and other crimes. The group also stands accused of drawing supporters down a path of destruction that includes near-starvation diets, forced branding, pseudo-slavery, and blackmail. Former members share harrowing experiences of manipulation and sexual violation, including Sarah Edmondson who sits down with Vargas to share new details of her ordeal inside the organization including being branded with a symbol that turned out to be the leader's initials.