Anita Van Duyn, a former retail entrepreneur who left Identity Science in 1994 after more than a decade in the group and knew Ms. Gabbard as a young woman, wrote in a letter to members of Congress that she was under “Mrs. Gabbard’s” full influence over Mr. Butler, who He said it “harbors ambitious political goals.” Ms. Van Duyn, who lives with her husband in California, said she left the group because Mr. Butler “used his disciples like puppets only for his personal gain.”
Like other critics, he could not say specifically what Mr. Butler’s political agenda was, although in 1977 the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that he had secretly endorsed a slate of unsuccessful candidates for congressional and state office in Hawaii the previous year. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
In a statement, Ms. Gabbard’s spokeswoman Alexa Henning characterized questions about Ms. Gabbard’s religious background as “Hinduphobia.” He also tried to distance Ms. Gabbard from Identity Science, claiming that she “never has and has never had a relationship” with the organization. “It’s bigoted to smear him as being in a cult,” he wrote in an email.
In the past, Ms. Gabbard has spoken positively about her experiences with Mr. Butler’s group and disputed critics who called it an abusive culture. “I’ve never heard him say anything hateful, or mean anything about anybody,” Ms. Gabbard told The New Yorker in 2017. “I can speak from my own personal experience and truly, my gratitude to him for the gift he has given me and many others in the great spiritual practice.
In the same article, Mr Butler praised him as an able “student of mine”.
In anticipation of Ms. Gabbard’s verification investigation before her confirmation hearing, Science of Identity hired 5W, a New York public relations firm, to run an email campaign criticizing news coverage of the group’s influence on her as “anti-Hindu hate,” “White.” A message echoed by House.
