Constance Cumbey
Constance Elizabeth Cumbey (February 29, 1944 – June 9, 2025) was an American lawyer, Christian activist and writer.[1]
Cumbey was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and became a Baptist as an adult, having been raised Seventh Day Adventist.[2][3]
She received her doctorate in law from Detroit College of Law in 1975 and held a number of roles, including with the Family Law Committee of the General Practice Section of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Women Lawyers.[2]
Views
[edit]Cumbey offered the first major criticism of the New Age movement from a Christian perspective in The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism (1983), but quickly lost academic credibility due to her promotion of conspiracy theories linking the New Age movement to Benjamin Creme, Theosophy and Nazism.[4] Scholar of New Age religion James R. Lewis describes this book as containing "a few few insightful criticisms with many accusations of the least responsible sort", and that she was "simply lumping together anything that departs from a rather strict interpretation of Christianity." Cumbey's accusations include that the New Age movement has "infiltrated all of Christianity, as well as Judaism", and that it is the motivating force behind ecumenism, holistic health centers, New Thought, humanistic psychology, Montessori schools, modernism, secular humanism, and zero population growth. She stated that Unitarian churches and health food stores become "New Age recruiting centers", that the Guardian Angels become one of the New Age movement's paramilitary organizations and that "the New Age Movement has complete identity with the programs of Hitler".[5][3][6] Her contention was that the New Age movement is not simply expressing a naive or unscriptural interest in metaphysics, but that it is an organized conspiracy to overthrow the United States and replace it with a Nazi-like regime.[7] She died on June 9, 2025, at the age of 81.[8]
While there are certain superficial similarities among most religions, orthodox Judaism and Christianity stand in direct opposition to every other belief system. It is safe to say, however, that nearly all non-Judeo-Christian religions are extremely similar because, as the Bible indicates, they come from one source, the 'god of this world'—Satan himself.[9]
— Constance Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow
Publications
[edit]- The New Age Movement: Age of Aquarius, Age of Antichrist. Oklahoma City: Southwest Radio Church. 1982. OCLC 45443844.
- The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and our Coming Age of Barbarism. Shreveport: Huntington House. 1983. ISBN 0-910311-03-X. OCLC 10038955.
- A Planned Deception: The Staging of a New Age Messiah. East Detroit: Pointe Publishers. 1985. ISBN 978-0935897005.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Obituary information for Constance Elizabeth Cumbey". Modetz Funeral Homes. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- 1 2 "Constance E. Cumbey papers, 1920-2004 (majority within 1980-1999)". University of Michigan. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- 1 2 McClellan, Theresa D. (July 17, 1982). "Amnesty, Population, Disarmament Groups Herald Reign of Anti-Christ, Woman Claims". The Grand Rapids Press. pp. 33–34. Retrieved July 8, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Lewis, James R. (1992). Perspectives on the New Age. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 154–56. ISBN 978-0-7914-1213-8.
- ↑ Lewis, James R. (1996). Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 344. ISBN 0-7914-2890-7.
- ↑ Goldschmidt, Keith (April 8, 1983). "Author says New Age seeks to control world". Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. 6. Retrieved July 8, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Fuller, Robert (1996). Naming the Antichrist. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 187–188. ISBN 0-19-510979-1.
- ↑ "Constance Elizabeth Cumbey Obituary - The Detroit Free Press". freep.com. June 11, 2025. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
- ↑ Tamney, Joseph (1992). The Resilience of Christianity in the Modern World. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-7914-0821-3.
Further reading
[edit]- Hexham, Irving (1992). "The Evangelical Response to the New Age". In Lewis, James R.; Melton, J. Gordon (eds.). Perspectives on the New Age. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 152–163.
- Passantino, Bob; Passantino, Gretchen (1990). Witch Hunt. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
- Saliba, John A. (1999). Christian Responses to the New Age Movement: A Critical Assessment. London: Geoffrey Chapman.
External links
[edit]- The Constance Cumbey Papers at the Wayback Machine (archived December 8, 2005)
- What Constance thinks (blog)
- Constance Cumbey interviewed by GeorgeAnn Hughes of "The Byte Show"
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1944 births
- 2025 deaths
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American women lawyers
- 21st-century American women
- American conspiracy theorists
- American religious writers
- Baptists from Michigan
- Christian conspiracy theorists
- People associated with the New Age
- People from Fort Wayne, Indiana
- People from Wayne County, Michigan
- American women religious writers
- Writers from Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Writers from Michigan
- Converts to Baptist Christianity
- Detroit College of Law alumni