Investigative Series on Science of Identity Cult and Tulsi Gabbard

by Christine Gralow
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Trump has nominated Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. This is a direct threat to U.S. stability and democracy. This cannot be overstated. Hawai'i's mainstream news editors and owners failed for decades to accurately educate the public about Gabbard's political motivations in service to faux guru Chris Butler, an abusive, megalomaniac grifter with long-held aspirations of national power via politically groomed followers. This is not a conspiracy theory, readers. I wish it were. Butler's political grooming of his followers in Hawai'i dates back to the 1970s.

Below is my 2017 three-part investigative series on Butler's Hawaii-based Science of Identity Foundation, its ties to an international money laundering ring, and Gabbard's life-long entrenchment in the group. To call this psychologically, spiritually, and financially abusive cult "Hindu" and Gabbard "the first Hindu in Congress" is an insult to Hinduism.

Butler himself told The New Yorker in 2017 that he is not Hindu. He and Gabbard also both told The New Yorker that Science of Identity is a "resource, not a religious organization" (yet the Science of Identity Foundation has religious 501(c)(3) tax status). Butler also admitted to The New Yorker that he directly advised Gabbard to use Hinduism for political reasons. The political and religious grifting are blatant.

Science of Identity members worship Butler (birth name Kris Butler, no middle name), who has virulently espoused hatred of Muslims, LGBTQ individuals, former followers, journalists, scientists, and anyone who questions him. Butler has never apologized for his extremist hate speech or in any way indicated that his views have changed. To my knowledge, this is not how bona-fide Vaishnava Hindu gurus behave. As I detailed in my series, archived letters show that the late founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (aka Hare Krishnas) denounced Butler as a criminal.

Since publishing my 2017 series, I've been contacted by about a dozen more former Butler followers, three of whom say Tulsi Gabbard is now essentially worshipped in this abusive cult and considered a "pure devotee" of Butler. In other words, they say, she has devoted her life to serving Butler. They fear retribution for speaking out publicly, now even more so in light of Gabbard's DNI appointment. Part of this fear stems from the fact that Butler and Science of Identity use the same lawyers as Scientology to legally harass ex-adherents and journalists. They also engage in surveillance and character assassination of critics in a manner similar to Scientology.

Former long-time Butler followers say Butler has always wanted one of his followers to become U.S. President. He has in fact groomed many followers to become elected officials in Hawai'i, including Gabbard's parents. Given his penchant for assigning followers to stalk and surveil critics, including LGBTQ pride parade attendees, perhaps Butler is even more pleased with Gabbard's pending Director of National Intelligence position, which oversees 18 U.S. spy agencies. So, too, must be Putin, Modi, Assad, el-Sisi, and Netanyahu - all dictators with whom Gabbard has aligned.

I published additional findings of Gabbard's continued deep Butler cult entrenchment in the Iowa Informer, an archive of which is below. (The Iowa Informer editor is not yet sure why his site is currently down.)

Part 1 of my investigative series documents the Science of Identity cult's history in Hawai'i, its early political power moves, and extensive international financial crimes: Butler's Web: Krishna, Politics, and QNET's International Money Laundering.

Part 2 documents Butler's personal history and early cult leader days, with extensive critical comments from his brother, old high school friends, and Hawai'i-based investigative journalists who covered Butler in the 1970s, one of whom called him a "dictator": Butler's Web, Part 2: Who is Gabbard's Guru?.

Part 3 documents the second generation of Butler worshippers, children born into the cult who, like Tulsi Gabbard, were educated in Butler cult indoctrination schools:
Butler's Web, Part 3: Grooming the Second Generation

My Iowa Informer article further exposed Gabbard's continued deep involvement in this abusive cult and Butler's shockingly hateful, curse-filled lectures against the LGBTQ community (takes a min. to load as an archive):
https://web.archive.org/web/20191207221723/http://iowainformer.com/politics/2019/09/will-tulsi-gabbard-answer-questions-about-her-lgbtq-hate-guru/

During her presidential campaign, I exposed the existence of an actual Tulsi Gabbard enemy list (which I am prominently on) here:
www.meanwhileinhawaii.org/home/tulsileaks-tulsigabbardenemylist

Update, January 17, 2025: My Dec. 2024 two-part piece for Jeff Stein's SpyTalk, "My Battle with Tulsi Gabbard's Cult Followers in Hawaii", can be found here: https://www.spytalk.co/p/my-battle-with-tulsi-gabbards-cult.

Meanwhile in Hawai'i has been hit by several unsuccessful DDoS attacks. This began within days of publishing Part 1 of the Butler's Web series. Journalism is publishing what power and corruption don't want published.

​- Christine Gralow

(Note: This is an update of an older post, thus some reader comments here pre-date the current content.)