In 1934, a strange publication started making the rounds in esoteric circles, casting beams of hope across Great Depression-era California where there had only been shadow. It was called (deep breath) Mankind United: A Challenge to “Mad Ambition” and “The Money-Changers” Accompanied by an Invitation to the World’s “Sane” Men and Women. Try fitting that on a book spine! Like another “Man U” we can think of, Mankind United would manage to whip its followers into a frenzy in which they sacrificed everything in the name of a greater ideal. But unlike that other “Man U”, Mankind United would never hand its followers the wins it so vehemently promised.
The Mythology of Mankind United
Sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of Man, Mankind United was the idea of charming grifter and real estate whisperer Arthur Bell. However, he “borrowed” just as liberally from pre-existing social philosophies, spiritual texts, and economic systems as he did from his followers’ bank accounts. And the original concepts that filled in Mankind United’s gaps were colorful, to put it politely. Although, to Bell’s credit, he wasn’t baking elderly women in ovens like another California cult we covered. No, he was just stealing all of their money.
Brace yourself, because the spiritual lore of Mankind United is a wild ride. At its core, this California cult believed that a vast conspiratorial web of movers and shakers orchestrated the world’s wars, famines, and general injustices. Bell regularly referred to these mysterious forces as the “Hidden Rulers” or “Money Changers.” Not too dissimilar from what a lot of folks believe today, frankly.
But here’s where things start to drift off the rails. The oppressive “Money Changers” found rivalry in an equally mysterious group known as the “Sponsors.” From what Mankind United’s literature reveals, the Sponsors weren’t quite human. Rather, these diminutive creatures were metal-headed humanoids residing at the center of the earth. And in 1875, they congregated and pooled their resources, collecting $60 million they wanted to invest in the human race. In 1934, that would be the equivalent of around $1.4 billion today.
The Big Business of War
So, how did these bullet-headed backers plan to invest in humans? By giving them a fair shot against the tyrannical “Money Chasers” that had secretly enslaved them. Per the official Mankind United manuscript: “Our Sponsors believed, (and their Research Department has since proven), that the principal known resources of the earth had been systematically withheld from mankind’s use for many centuries by a worldwide organization composed of a small group of families in possession of fabulous accumulations of wealth, which they were using to gradually pauperize and enslave the human race.”
War was a big business industry in the eyes of Mankind United, one that allowed the powers-that-be to strategically eliminate the strongest working-class threats to their carefully cultivated system of control. World War I was simply a means for the powers that be to test out advanced weaponry and trim the population. But their ultimate operation would require them to eradicate approximately 400 million of the world’s most educated and spiritually enlightened people. Only then would they be able to move forward with their nefarious plans for a brutal caste system with mass slavery.
The Promise of Utopia
Fortunately, the Sponsors had an idea to go along with their money. They would establish a utopian society in which people would only ever be required to work four hours daily, four days weekly, and eight months annually to secure a yearly salary of $3,000 (or roughly $70,000 today). Not great, but also not terrible for a 16-hour work week. Perhaps Bell realized the salary left a bit to be desired because he… errr, the “Sponsors” added in a few other incentives.
Any Mankind United members who had worked over 11,000 hours or reached the age of 60 years would also be entitled to a monthly pension of $250 (close to $6,000 in 2024). That’s… actually not too shabby. But there was more. Mankind United’s followers would also get a home valued at $25,000 (about $585,000 today). Sorry, Bell, you’re losing us again. But remember, the housing market was pretty different in those days.
These Mankind United homes would be equipped with all the mod cons including TV, limitless movies, automatic news reports, air-conditioning, radio, and an “automated vocal-type correspondence machine”. So, a telephone? An electrical telegraph? Only the Sponsors knew for sure. The features rolled on with tennis courts, swimming pools, vegetable gardens, greenhouses, fruit-bearing trees, manicured lawns, fountains, waterfalls… but what about the smart features?
The Voice of Mankind United
Work seemed out of place in a utopic paradise, so it was renamed “service”. And since the global reframing would render dollars meaningless, the new currency established by the Sponsors would be a credit system. Mankind United’s economic model closely mirrored one created by Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews for a group of anarchists in New York in the mid-1800s.
Mankind United’s utopia sounded as close to Heaven on Earth as anyone could expect. There was just one catch. In order to usher in this utopian age, the Sponsors would need to recruit 200 million people to their cause. And when it came to this herculean effort, the Sponsors could only trust one man: Arthur Bell.
As the only human with whom the Sponsors would communicate, Arthur Bell was often recognized by his official Mankind United title “The Voice of the Right Idea” or simply “The Voice.” As the Voice, he stood tall at the top of a military-style hierarchy. Somewhat ironic for an organization with a mythology pitting members directly against a war-for-profit shadow government.
The Steep Price of Utopia
If the benefits of joining Mankind United seemed attractive, it’s worth noting that the price of admission was steep. Members needed to give Bell up to half of their earthly possessions. We can only assume they considered it a downpayment on utopia. They also agreed to toil away in one of the cult’s multitude of businesses, ranging from ranches to hotels to restaurants. Hours were long and unforgiving, with cult members averaging 16 hours a day for seven days a week. For this service, they were allotted a stipend of $40 a month (the equivalent of a little over $900).
On top of this, cult members were expected to enroll in Mankind United classes… and these weren’t cheap. Training programs cost the average cult member about $20 in tuition (or $450 by today’s dollar value). We don’t even want to know if the textbooks were included in that fee.
The High Life of California Cult Leader Arthur Bell
Meanwhile, “the Voice” was sitting pretty atop the hierarchical pyramid. Bell had become quite the presence on the Hollywood nightlife circuit. Thanks to Mankind United, he owned property all over California, tapping into his natural gift for sealing a real estate deal. He even had a lux bachelor pad on the Sunset Strip where he regularly entertained guests by tickling the ivory of his pipe organ (that’s not a euphemism) or serving drinks by the indoor pool. Of course, no Mankind United members made it to these exclusive parties or they’d be horrified to see the Voice lubricating his vocal chords with alcohol, a substance strictly forbidden by the Sponsors.
Bell built a reputation around Hollywood for his extravagant lifestyle, crawling from nightclub to nightclub, and tipping surprisingly well for a man who paid his followers $40 a month. But Mankind United was a profitable “religion.” At its peak, Bell was pulling in $50,000 a year (over $1 million today). And since Mankind United was classified as a religious organization, none of that amount was taxed. According to an investigation conducted by the state, the cult had brought in well over $4 million by 1945. And most of that was going into Bell’s pocket (and right out the other).
All of these details make Mankind United out to be a resounding success for its duplicitous founder. But it was never a very popular cult when stacked up against some of California’s heavyweights. During its heyday (roughly from 1934 to 1941), only about 14,000 Californians subscribed to the beliefs pushed by Bell. And we can confidently say “Californians” because, try as he might, Bell never managed to sell the ideas of Mankind United beyond the California-Oregon border.
Ray Guns and Resurrections
But around 1940, Bell’s declarations began to challenge the liberal trust of Mankind United’s loyal followers. For example, he claimed he was working on a laser capable of blasting “out the eyesockets” of a target from thousands of miles away. So much for the anti-war messaging! He stepped it up further by claiming this machine could serve as the battery for power plants that could disintegrate people in mere seconds.
But not all of Mankind United’s alleged technology was destructive. Bell alleged that the Sponsors could resurrect the dead on a distant planet. Bell also claimed an ability to “translevitate” between locations, an assertion he supported by using body doubles to appear at seminars across the state simultaneously.
And he didn’t limit his outlandish proclamations to cult members. During an investigation by a state California legislative committee, he boasted that he could enter and exit trance states at will. But it was less these claims and more the state investigations that finally eroded the confidence of the cult’s true believers.
Mankind United Gives In to the Golden Rule
The advent of World War II put Mankind United’s anti-war messaging under heightened scrutiny. In May of 1942, this culminated in the conviction of Bell and several of his top-tier associates for charges of sedition. Accusations ranged from cult members dissuading people from purchasing war bonds to celebrating the events of Pearl Harbor. Though these convictions would ultimately be overturned in a 1947 appeal, the damage to Mankind United was done. When a small group of cult members in San Diego were arrested for hiding stockpiles of gasoline with claims that they were barrels of prune juice, the struggling California cult seemed too ridiculous to sustain. But Bell had one more card up his sleeve.
In 1944, Bell founded Christ’s Church of the Golden Rule. According to the Bible, Christ’s Golden Rule stated “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Of course, the unspoken rule here was “rules for thee and not for me” or else Bell would have spent several lifetimes at the wrong end of a grift. The Church of the Golden Rule safeguarded Mankind United’s assets despite the state and federal surveillance that had become commonplace.
Naturally, Bell was the sole trustee for this new religious group. Using his tax-exempt status, Bell once again leaned heavily into his real estate expertise, buying up business after business and putting his cultists to work. At one point, Bell and his wife, using the pseudonyms J.J. Jackson and Ruby Chapman, owned the Sorrento Beach Club in Santa Monica and a cheese factory. It seemed nothing was out of his reach.
A Dark Legacy
But with the pressure from state and federal organizations only getting higher, Bell left Mankind United and the Church of the Golden Rule behind in 1951. Sadly, the influence of the cult would outlast Bell’s leadership. Mankind United’s model highly influenced a charismatic figure named Jim Jones, inspiring him to give cult leadership a shot. He, of course, took things much further than Bell.
