I believe the survivors.
Not because they displayed what appear to be authentic emotional responses. I have known people with false memories of abuse who displayed convincing narratives complete with tears and apparent distress.
The reason I believe them, apart from the obvious evidence, is that the narratives they describe and the feelings they describe and the situations they describe are extremely common narratives described by people who were abused, as adults and / or children, within cultic settings.
Cults leaders, whether religious cults such as for example the Children of God, or personality cults, as happened with Jimmy Savile and R Kelly, possess the skills with which to cast a spell on victims and their families and on wider communities.
One very common theme in this kind of abuse is that the perpetrator will claim that the children need to spend private time with the perpetrator for their own personal, spiritual or career development.
These kinds of perpetrators use gifts, flattery and a narrative in which they convinced he victim and their family that they are special. The victims will be depicted by the perpetrator as being uniquely creatively skilled / spiritual / clever / chosen as the next leader / etc.
One of the reasons the film The Matrix was so popular is that deep inside most people's psyche is the belief that they are "The One". Part of being a good parent in the belief that your child is uniquely special and gifted.
It is these universal unconscious beliefs of specialness and being "The One" that perpetrators manipulate in order to commit atrocious abuses.
Of course in these narratives the perpetrator is also uniquely special. They may be a spiritual guru or leader beloved of their community, they may be a wealthy, influential, powerful businessman who can "make things happen" for the victim. They may be a superstar in the field of entertainment.
What these perpetrators do, routinely, is they cultivate special, exclusive relationships with victims that undermines the victims' natural relationships with their friends and families that would normally protect them from such abuses.
Perpetrators surround themselves with loyal, complaint, brainwashed and blackmailed individuals who will support the enchantments they cast on families and on entire communities. I use the word enchantments because, while I do not believe that they are able to cast magical spells, they concept of enchantment is a useful one to describe the kind of brainwashing through social compliance and conformity that these perpetrators use routinely.
Children and vulnerable adults who are abused by these kinds of perpetrators suffer all manner of internal conflicts and divided loyalties, as demonstrated very clearly in the Leaving Neverland documentary.
I would just like to share a video clip of some children involved in a religious cult, the Children of God where the sexual abuse of young children was endemic and was promoted by a cult publication called "My Little Fish". The publication depicted photographs of adults sexually abusing children, which was depicted as a form of religious worship.
The clip is from the 20 20 documentary on the Children of God, which can be found in its entirety on youtube.
The clip is distressing to watch, obviously, but demonstrates how children can be groomed into defending perpetrators and denying that they have been abused.