Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God

LOVE HAS WON: THE CULT OF MOTHER GOD chronicles the life and death of Amy Carlson, also known as “Mother God,” a self-proclaimed spiritual savior who promised an escape from the “3D” world via her online manifestos and live-streaming sessions. As her most fervent acolytes came to live with Amy, they cared for “Mother God,” whose health gradually declined. Amy’s followers joined her in believing that her physical demise was the result of her taking on the pain of the world, and that her deterioration would ultimately lead to her evacuation by UFO and salvation for humanity. Told through the eyes of Amy’s devotees, both former and still practicing, and constructed almost entirely from the cult’s archival footage, the series captures the early boom of internet proselytizing and the perils of a conspiracy-driven faith. “Mother God” was born Amy Carlson in Kansas in 1975. Increasingly disaffected with a financially unsustainable and exhausting life as a young mother of three working as a McDonald’s manager, she turned to the internet, finding hope in the vast echo chamber of New Age spirituality, conspiracy theories, and supernatural ideologies, eventually founding Love Has Won as a destination for the disenchanted. After abruptly leaving her family, Amy proclaimed herself able to take on humanity’s pain, and as “Mother God,” gave daily online spiritual sessions for money while her commune supported itself by selling products, specifically advocating the use of colloidal silver as a healing elixir. Despite professing a faith in universal love, the cult had a darker, conspiracy-laden side as well. Blinded by her beliefs, fueled by alcohol and drugs, and with a distrust of science and medicine, Amy became trapped in a reality of her own making, eventually succumbing to a death that her followers understood as her ascension to the next realm. Even after her death, her followers continued their devotion to her, until her mummified body was discovered by authorities in the communal home weeks after her demise. Through first-hand testimony and intimate footage, LOVE HAS WON: THE CULT OF MOTHER GOD reveals how the perilous vortex of the internet can become a platform for idolatry while also offering promises of truth, healing, and meaning to the vulnerable.