Mike Garde is a South African born theologian and an expert on

cults In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

. He is the director of

Dialogue Ireland Dialogue Ireland is an independent trust, established in 1992, which works to promote awareness and understanding of religious issues and cultism in Ireland. It is an ecumenical body which counters the rise in a number of new religions and cults i ...

. Garde is a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

and is a member of Grosvenor Baptist Church in

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...

. In 1978, he was supported by the London Mennonist Mission, in establishing the Irish Mennonist Mission in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He was the first non-

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to study for the

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

in 1975. He also gained an H.Dip in

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

. Prior to attending Maynooth he studied for a

Diploma in Theology The Bachelor of Theology degree (BTh, ThB, or BTheol) is a three- to five-year undergraduate degree in theological disciplines and is typically pursued by those seeking ordination for ministry in a church, denomination, or parachurch organization. ...

at the

Irish Baptist College The Irish Baptist College (IBC) is a Baptist theological college in Moira, Craigavon, Northern Ireland. It is affiliated with the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. It is part of the Baptist Theological Centre which is located in the ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He received an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Theology in 2006 from the Milltown Institute in Dublin. Garde appears regularly on radio and TV discussing cults in Ireland on behalf of Dialogue Ireland, and speaks in secondary schools in Ireland on the dangers of cults.

Legal cases involving Garde

In July 2012, Mr Justice

Gerard Hogan Gerard William Augustine Hogan, (born 13 August 1958) is an Irish judge, lawyer and academic who has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since October 2021. He previously served as Advocate General of the European Court of Justice ...

ordered Garde and ''

Sunday World The ''Sunday World'' is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories r ...

'' journalist

Nicola Tallant Nicola Tallant (born 1974) is an Irish investigative journalist, specialising in organised crime. She is known for her work at the ''Sunday World''. Background Tallant studied at the College of Commerce, Rathmines in the 1990s, graduating with ...

to appear in

United States District Court for the District of Colorado The United States District Court for the District of Colorado (in case citations, D. Colo. or D. Col.) is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are a ...

to give evidence in ''Cornec v. Morrice and Others'' (2012) and adjourned for a month to allow them to apply the orders to be set aside. The court heard how both were "party to communications relevant to the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

proceedings." It was claimed Tallant could be urged to reveal the sources for her stories. In September 2012, the Irish High Court ruled that Garde and

did not have to give evidence. Mr Justice

set aside orders saying "if, as she maintains, Mr Quinn holds unorthodox religious views and is effectively the leader of a religious

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

which has used psychological techniques as a means of controlling gullible adherents, the media are entitled to educate public opinion in this regard." In September 2018, it was reported that

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

proceedings were issued against Random House Group by Paul Tweed over a suggestion in the

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''In ...

book ''Origin'' that a cult-monitoring group in Ireland took money to fight a

sect. The reference only appears in first-editions and was removed for the paperback.

References

External links

Spirituality and Cultism: A case study of a New Religious Movement – The Magnificat Meal Movement
- Garde's MA Thesis paper {{DEFAULTSORT:Garde, Mike Living people People from Dublin (city) Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Alumni of Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy Irish Christian theologians Irish Mennonites South African Mennonites Mennonite theologians Year of birth missing (living people) Christian countercult movement Critics of Scientology Anti-cult movement