Heaven's Gate (podcast)

The podcast is a documentary about the new religious movement Heaven's Gate, which is often described as a cult.^[1] The podcast discusses how Bonnie Lu Nettles and Marshall Applewhite (known within the group as Ti and Do respectively) convinced their followers to leave their families to join them.^[2] Glynn Washington discusses the members of the group, as well as their friends and family, and reflects on how someone might end up joining a group like Heaven's Gate.^[3] Washington himself grew up in the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong, which taught beliefs known collectively as Armstrongism, described as a cult by Walter Ralston Martin in his book The Kingdom of the Cults (1965). Washington left the group at the age of 19.^[4] The group is now known as Grace Communion International.^[5] Washington was fascinated by the events that took place in large part because of the similarities to the group he grew up in,^[6] which held similarly apocalyptic beliefs.^[7]

The podcast debuted on October 18, 2017,^[8] and contains 10 episodes.^[9] The show was produced in the Sun Basket production studio^[10] and produced by Pineapple Street Media^[11] as a Stitcher original.^[12] Benjamin Zeller, author and professor of religion at Lake Forest College, guided the project with his research on the group.^[13] Dan Taberski acted as writer for the show.^[14] The show uses archived audio in addition to new interviews.^[15] The podcast includes testimonials from members of the group as well as friends and family of members.^[16] The show was nominated for best documentary podcast in the 2018 Webby Awards.^[17]