This paper analyzes the unexpected resurgence of anti-cult activism across multiple national contexts, drawing on recent case studies previously examined in my published work. Although scholars of new religious movements widely consider "brainwashing" theories to have been discredited—both within academic research and in American and European courts of law—public anxieties about so-called "cults" (a term used here only in quotation marks) have re-emerged with notable intensity. This renewed concern has generated a paradoxical revival of the very "brainwashing" narratives that had been dismissed as scientifically untenable. The paper argues that this revival is not an isolated phenomenon but is instead driven by a transnational network of anti-cult actors who strategically circulate claims, testimonies, and policy proposals across borders. Through examples from Australia, Argentina, Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea, the study shows how local controversies become amplified within a globalized moral discourse that frames minority religions as threats to individual autonomy, family cohesion, and national security. By mapping these interconnected developments, the paper highlights the need for renewed scholarly attention to the political, media, and legal mechanisms that enable the persistence—and reinvention—of discredited theories in contemporary debates on religious freedom.