Disciples of Truth, diplomas of fraud: The tumultous tale of the 'Anglo Saxon Sikhs' of Oklahoma

The first mass conversion of Americans to Sikhism occurred in Oklahoma nearly 70 years ago. Decades later, it spawned a vast illegal enterprise involving fraudulent degrees. After two years of research through newspapers, magazines, and government records, its story is told here for the first time.

In 1955, a handful of spiritual seekers began to meet weekly at a small, single-family home within a quiet residential neighborhood in northern Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their aim was to study the world’s religions in chronological order, and their host and guide was a thin, middle-aged man in glasses named Homer Bradshaw.

After a few months, the study group became an official organisation and was incorporated by Bradshaw as “The Disciples of Truth” with a stated purpose of embracing and teaching “the underlying truth contained in all systems of religion, philosophy, and science”.

Towards the end of 1956, the Disciples of Truth had made their way to the final religion of their survey, Sikhism. They became convinced that they had found “the most complete revelation from God to our world” and were determined to meet actual Sikhs and learn more – although at that time, Sikhs numbered only a few thousand across the entire United States. They were mostly living...