Anita van Duyn, a former retail entrepreneur who left Science of Identity in 1994 after more than a decade in the group and knew Ms. Gabbard as a young woman, has written a letter to members of Congress warning that Ms. Gabbard is “under the complete influence of” Mr. Butler, who she said “harbors ambitious political goals.” Ms. van Duyn, who lives with her wife in California, said she had left the group because Mr. Butler “used his disciples like puppets only for his personal gains.”
Like other critics, she could not say specifically what Mr. Butler’s political agenda was, although in 1977, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that he secretly backed a slate of unsuccessful candidates for Congress and state office in Hawaii the previous year. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
In a statement, Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Ms. Gabbard, characterized questions about Ms. Gabbard’s religious background as “Hinduphobia.” She also sought to distance Ms. Gabbard from Science of Identity, claiming that “she has never and doesn’t have affiliation” with the organization. “Smearing her as being in a cult is bigoted,” she wrote in an email.
In the past, Ms. Gabbard has spoken positively of her experiences with Mr. Butler’s group and disputed critics who call it an abusive cult. “I’ve never heard him say anything hateful, or say anything mean about anybody,” Ms. Gabbard told The New Yorker in 2017. “I can speak to my own personal experience and, frankly, my gratitude to him, for the gift of this wonderful spiritual practice that he has given to me, and to so many people.”
In the same article, Mr. Butler praised her as an accomplished “student of mine.”
In anticipation of the scrutiny on Ms. Gabbard ahead of her confirmation hearing, Science of Identity has hired a New York public relations firm, 5W, to conduct an email campaign criticizing news coverage of the group’s influence on her as fomenting “anti-Hindu hate,” a message echoed by the White House.
