DOCSLIB.ORG

College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 8-2008 College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions. Kevin Clark Dreher East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Personality and Social Contexts Commons Recommended Citation Dreher, Kevin Clark, "College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions." (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1957. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1957 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions ____________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Criminal Justice and Criminology ____________________ by Kevin Clark Dreher August 2008 ____________________ Wayne Gillespie, PhD., Chair Dennis Hamm, PhD. Michael Braswell, PhD Keywords: Cults, College Students, Religion, Vulnerability, Perceptions ABSRACT College Student Vulnerability to Harmful Religious Groups Based on Perceptions by Kevin Clark Dreher This study was conducted in an attempt to understand which, if any, groups of college students are susceptible to cult influence based on false perceptions. Religion is a powerful practice that, if used for the wrong reasons, can influence a person to dissolve social and financial relationships with family, friends, and the surrounding community. Surveys were given to randomly selected cluster samples of students currently enrolled at the university. These surveys consisted of demographic questions and a scale designed to measure perceptions. Also devised was a scale to measure traits of depression. Both bivariate and multivariate analysis showed that the depression scale was more significant than the perceptions scale in measuring vulnerability. 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my family for their constant support throughout my long educational career. They have always been there for me with unfaltering support. Without them, I do not think that I would have made it this far and achieved so much. Thank you, Dr Gillespie in not only being my committee chair but also allowing me to be your Graduate Assistant. I learned more about research and the educational process in the time I worked for you than in any time during my academic career. The experience I gained from this will help me far into life. I would also like to thank the members of my committee. I thank them for having patience with me and allowing me to complete my academic odyssey. I have learned much from their teachings in both classes and the pursuit of this thesis. I will take everything I have learned from them and apply it to my future. I would like to acknowledge a select group of individuals who helped fuel my desire to continue educating myself, all those who said I couldn‟t do it. There are a few in my mind who in various points of my academic career suggested I quit or seek an alternate path. I did not. 3 CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………... 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ….…………………………………………………....……..... 3 LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………….. 8 Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………..…....... 9 Extent of Cults in the U.S. (and Abroad)………………………………… 10 Academic Definition of Cult and Susceptibility…………………………… 11 Theoretical Explanations…………………………………………………. 15 Characteristics of Individuals Who Join Cults............................................ 18 Overview of Study....................................................................................... 20 Hypotheses……………………………………………………...... 20 2. LITERATURE REVIEW……….………………………………….………. .. 21 Expanded Terminology…………………………………........................... 21 Differentiating Cult and Cult-Like……………………………………...... 25 Cult-Like Group Characteristics…………………..…………….... 25 Cult Charictaristics……………………………………………...... 27 Characteristics of Cult Leaders……………………………………….... 29 Psychopathological Explanation………………………………...... 29 Entrepreneurship Explanation…………………………………..... 29 Overview of Cult Influence on the Individual………………………........ 31 4 Invulnerability…………………………………………………..... 32 Morality…………………………………………………………... 33 Rationalization………………………………….………...…….... 33 Out-Groups……………………………………………………..... 33 Self-Censorship………………………………………………....... 34 Dissenters……………………………………………………….... 34 Mindguards……………………………………………………. ... 35 Unanimity……………………………………………………........ 35 Perceptions………………………………………………………..…........ 35 Media Misrepresentation………………………………………..... 36 Fear of Crime……………………………………………………... 36 The Anti-Cult Movement……………………………………….... 38 Cults on College Campuses…………………………………………......... 39 Risk Factors for Susceptibility……………………….................... 39 Recruitment Methods…………………………………………….. 40 3. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………................ 43 Data……………………………………………………………................. 43 Participants…………………………………………………….................. 43 Data Collection Instrument……………………………………................. 44 Measures……………………………………………………….................. 45 Demographics………………………………………….................. 45 Cult Susceptibility Inventory…………………………................... 45 Variables……………………………………………………...................... 45 5 Dependent……………………………………………................... 45 Independent.................................................................................... 46 Analysis………………………………………………………….............. 48 Hypothesis....................................................................................... 48 Univariate…………………………………………….................... 49 Bivariate……………………………………………….................. 49 Multivariate……………………………………………................. 49 Summary…………………………………………………………............. 49 4. RESULTS………………………………………………………….................. 51 Univariate………………………………………………………................ 51 Bivariate………………………………………………………….............. 56 Correlation……………………………………………................... 56 Independent Sample t-Test……………………………................. 58 Analysis of Variance…………………………………................... 63 Multivariate……………………………………………………................. 65 Perceptions…………………………………………….................. 65 Depression……………………………………………................... 66 Summary……………………………………………………….................. 68 5. DISSCUSSION……………………………………………………................. 70 Methodology……………………………………………........................... 70 Findings…………………………………………………........................... 70 Perceptions…………………………………………......................... 70 Depression………………………………………….......................... 72 6 Limitations……………………………………….............................. 73 Implications……………………………………................................ 75 Future Research………………………………….............................. 76 REFERENCES……………………………………………………. …................. 77 APPENDIX: Data Collection Instrument………………………………............... 83 VITA……………………………………………………………………............... 90 7 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Frequencies ………………………………………………………….............. 53 2. Descriptive Statistics .……………………………………………….............. 55 3. Pearson Correlation Matrix…………………………………………............... 57 4. Perceptions of Cults t-Tests ………………………………………….............. 60 5. Depression t-Tests …………………………………………………................ 62 6. Analysis of Variance for Perceptions Scale ………………………................. 64 7. Analysis of Variance for Depression Scale ………………………….............. 64 8. Summary of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Perceptions of HRMs …………………………………….………….............. 66 9. Summary of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Depression …………………………………………………………................ 67 8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION College is a time when young adults move away from their parents for the first time and are really trying to discover who they are and where they belong in the world. This need for belonging can help influence people to do things or believe things they otherwise might not. You can see this in cases where a young adult comes to a college campus and gets involved with fraternities, drugs, or other activities. Also, seniors who are ready to graduate might not be ready for the “real world” after college. This lack of experience at both ends of the undergraduate career can render the student open to influence. One less discussed influential force on college students are harmful religious groups, better known as cults. A “harmful” religious group is one that controls a person‟s social life, family relations, mind, and finances for the group leaders own benefit (Gesy, 1993). For years college students have been studied and used as subjects in research projects. This is in part due to the availability and the overall captivity of the student body. While this has been used for responsible social research, it also has its down sides. A student who lives on campus will usually follow a precise schedule in order to attend classes. This routine gives recruiters a sufficient time frame when to approach prospects and maximize their efforts. On- campus students are not the only ones “at risk.” Those who live off campus can still be persuaded by their professors,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cults and Psychological Manipulation
    WORKSHOP FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION, CULTS AND CULTIC RELATIONSHIPS 1. What is a destructive cult? Langone’s definition Singer’s Continuum of Influence and Persuasion 2. Do people join cultic groups? Factors that increase vulnerability Cult Recruitment: One Predictable Factor 3. Overview of Thought Reform: Four models 4. Singer’s Conditions for Thought Reform (Explore how each condition applies to the client’s group) 5. Assessment of current and former group members Screening tools Motivation for seeking therapy Clinical picture of cult survivors Post Group Distress Most typical cult induced psychopathologies PTSD/Complex PTSD 6. Assessment of cult as well as cult leader Evaluate client’s safety while inquiring about the cult and its leadership Discuss possible psychopathology of the cult leader 7. Treatment of current cult members 8. Treatment of former members: First and Second Generation Stages of Recovery: Therapeutic goals Recommendations for Therapists 9. Types of care and reliable resources Prepared by: Rosanne Henry, LPC www.CultRecover.com I WHAT IS A DESTRUCTIVE CULT? A destructive cult is a group or movement that, to a significant degree xhibits great or excessive devotion or dedicationto some person, idea, or thing Uses a thought-reform program to persuade, control, and socialize members Systematically induces states of psychological dependency in members Exploits members to advance the leadership’s goals, and Causes psychological harm to members, their families, and the community. Langone, M.D. (Ed.). (1993) Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. New York: W. Norton & Company. SINGER’S CONTINUUM OF INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION Singer, M.T.
    [Show full text]
  • Rebuilding the Jigsaw Gillie Jenkinson Spent Years in an Abusive Cult
    People Rebuilding the jigsaw Gillie Jenkinson spent years in an abusive cult. Now she specialises in counselling others recovering from similar experiences was thrilled when I discovered a psychological perspective, which caused cognitive dissonance in many Christianity in my late teens. The acknowledges the potential for harm: of the members, cognitive dissonance Ipeople I met were well meaning and ‘A group or movement that, to a being the emotional state set up when many were genuinely kind. Christianity significant degree there is a conflict between belief and answered many existential and I exhibits great or excessive devotion behaviour5. It was a confusing and emotional questions for me, but or dedication to some person, idea, terrifying milieu to live in, and the sadly, at that stage in my life, I had or thing psychological imprisonment, like the neither learned to think critically nor I uses a thought-reform programme dog in the electrocuted cage that does was I encouraged to do so. to persuade, control, and socialise not realise the door is open, was nearly I did not have a close mentor who members (ie to integrate them into total for me. At that point in my life, could help me make safe choices; the group’s unique pattern of I was living in an environment of indeed I did not think I needed to be relationships, beliefs, values and total control. wary; and my passion led me down a practices) I lost myself completely and had no road into ‘community’ (the in-thing in I systematically induces states of thought of leaving – that would have the 1970s) and into what ultimately psychological dependency in been ‘rebellion’ and the punishment became an abusive cult.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Thomas on Deprogramming: Is It Justifiable?
    The Catholic Lawyer Volume 39 Number 2 Volume 39, Summer-Fall 1999 Article 2 Number 2-3 St. Thomas on Deprogramming: Is it Justifiable? Catherine Wong Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Catholic Studies Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ST. THOMAS ON DEPROGRAMMING: IS IT JUSTIFIABLE? INTRODUCTION The anti-cult movement' began with families' and estab- lished religious groups" response to the significant and alarming rise in the number of new religious cults3 in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s.4 The process of deprogramming is 1 The anti-cult movement is a national movement, a response to the "simultane- ous emergence of the array of diverse new religious movements." ANSON D. SHUPE, JR. & DAVID G. BROMLEY, THE NEW VIGILANTES: DEPROGRAMMERS, ANTI-CULTISTS, AND THE NEW RELIGIONS 28 (1980). Shupe and Bromley note that the anti-cult movement is motivated by two distinct ideologies, the secular/rational and the re- ligious/theological. They employ two distinct metaphors to describe the social and psychological threats that cults impose upon individuals. See id. at 59-60. Belief in these differing metaphors led to advocacy of conflicting remedies for the cult prob- lem. See id. at 59. For example, those who believed that cultists were victims of de- ception "duped by virtue of their human weaknesses," rejected deprogramming as a solution.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    ICSA Conference Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 26 – June 29, 2008 Handbook Agenda Speakers Table of Contents Talks by Title Abstracts Biographical Sketches Copyright International Cultic Studies Association, 2008 P.O. Box 2265 Bonita Springs, FL 34133 www.icsahome.com [email protected] Views expressed in ICSA publications, conferences, workshops, Web sites, and other communication venues are those of the author(s) or speaker(s) and are not necessarily shared, endorsed, or recommended by ICSA or any of its directors, staff, or advisors. Talks by Title A Causal Model of Some Perceived Socio-Psychological and Academic Factors As Determinants of Cult Membership Among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria Adesoji A. Oni, Ph.D.; Kola Babarinde, Ph.D. A Survey of Legal and Legislative Professionals in Pennsylvania Edward Lottick, M.D. After the Cult: Who Am I? Leona Furnari, M.S.W. [This session is for ex-members only.] An Empirical Examination of Psychological Symptomatology Among Different Coercive Group Types Paul R. Martin, Ph.D.; Nicole Gullekson; Brian Uhlin; Lindsay Orchowski An Investigation into Cult Pseudo-personality and How it Forms Gillie Jenkinson, M.A. Aum Shinrikyo: Its Current Situation- Are they still dangerous? Where are they going? Former and current members on Death Row. What is the government doing? Taro Takimoto, Esq.; Masaki Kito, Esq. Authentic Writing and Cult Recovery Daniel Shaw, LCSW, Moderator; Fred Poole; Marta Szabo Avoiding Legal Entanglements When Writing Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq. Boundaries: Recognition and Repair After Leaving a Destructive Cult Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C. [This session is for ex-members only.] Charisma in Absentia: Comparing Recruitment Session Leadership Strategies of Cults and New Religious Movements Joshua Rosenblum, M.A.
    [Show full text]
  • UPN Alm.Del - Bilag 189 Offentligt
    Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2019-20 UPN Alm.del - Bilag 189 Offentligt $ The Journal of CESNUR $ “People Trapped Inside Shincheonji”: Broadcasting the Darker Side of Deprogramming Raffaella Di Marzio Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion, Belief and Conscience (LIREC) [email protected] ABSTRACT: This article is an in-depth critical examination of the first two episodes of the TV show “People Trapped into Shincheonji” from a psychological perspective. The show was produced by the Christian Korean TV network CBS, which broadcast it in 2017. We see in the show the deprogramming procedure, captured with a hidden camera in Christian counseling centers, conducted with the aim of “rescuing” young women affiliated with Shincheonji, a Christian new religious movement experiencing a sustained growth in South Korea. The episodes are analyzed with reference to the vast literature on deprogramming, and the personal experience of the author, who interviewed a young woman deprogrammed in Italy in the late 1980s. KEYWORDS: Mental Manipulation, Mind Control, Brainwashing, Anti-cult Movements, Margaret Singer, Deprogramming, Shincheonji, Forced Conversion. “People Trapped Inside Shincheonji” The episodes examined in this article are the first two of a series of eight, produced by the Christian Korean TV network CBS and aired in 2017. The aim of the CBS show was to document and, above all, to promote the deprogramming of members of the Church of Shincheonji, as if it were a “good practice.” The “counseling” shown in the episodes, and recorded through hidden cameras, presents all the characteristics of the deprogramming techniques, which were widespread in the United States in the 1970s and 80s (Anthony 1980; Galanter 1993; Hood, Hill and Spilka 2009), during the emerging phase of the anti-cult movement.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking Free from Cults: a Guide for Pastors to Lead Individuals to a New Christian Identity
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Liberty University Digital Commons LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY Breaking Free From Cults: A Guide For Pastors to Lead Individuals To A New Christian Identity. A Thesis Proposal Submitted to Liberty University School of Divinity In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Ministry By Brandon J. Waters Lynchburg, Virginia May 1, 2016 Copyright © 2015 Brandon J. Waters All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my wife Kathy for her support during my educational journey. I would also like to thank all of the post-cult survivors who were willing to share with me their story. Also, thanks to my Mother and Father who raised me in a Christian home and worked very hard to provide for our family. Also, special thanks to Rev. Brian Broome, for your assistance in editing, and direction in writing this dissertation. “Freedom” I just heard news that would change my life. I discovered the truth today. Some things beautifully fell into place, My life irreversibly changed. My brain was shock, disbelief and confusion. What do I do now? Who am I? Who will I become? Through all the confusion and mess, I keep hearing these words, “The truth will set you free” These words spoke loud and clear. Greater than all the confusion, greater than all the upset, greater than all the pain, was this overwhelming feeling. Deep inside my being, all the way through my soul, for the first time in my life, I knew, I was free at last.
    [Show full text]
  • Expert Opinion Introduction We Have Been Requested of an Expert
    Expert Opinion Introduction We have been requested of an expert opinion on the subject whether notions such as “brainwashing,” “mind control,” or “mental slavery,” allegedly used by “cult” to control their “victims,” are generally accepted in the social scientific study of new religious movements. We have prepared this answer to the general question, without entering into the details of any specific case. We are also signatories of a letter written to the Knesset by several international leading scholars of new religious movements, urging members of the Israeli Parliament not to pass a proposed law against “cults” based on notions of mind control we regard as non-scientific.1 The question was debated in depth during the so called “cult wars” of the 1970s and 1980s,2 when a societal reaction developed against the success in the West of new religious movements, either imported from Asia or domestic, labeled as “cults” by their opponents. By the 1990s, the “cult wars” had largely ended in North America, although they continued in certain European countries and elsewhere, including in Israel. We have studied the “cult wars” for decades, and some of us have been active in them. Other have served in institutional capacities dealing with problems of religious liberty involving small and unpopular minorities. In 2011, for example, Massimo Introvigne served as the Representative of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) for combating racism, xenophobia, and intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions. The Cult Wars; A History In the period from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, dozens of new religious movements appeared in the United States and in Europe, some originating from Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • Analisi Dei Culti: Approcci Teorici Ed Empirici Su Reclutamento, Conversione E Abbandono
    UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI GUGLIELMO MARCONI FACOLTÀ DI SCIENZA DELLA FORMAZIONE CORSO DI LAUREA IN SCIENZE E TECNICHE PSICOLOGICHE ANALISI DEI CULTI: APPROCCI TEORICI ED EMPIRICI SU RECLUTAMENTO, CONVERSIONE E ABBANDONO Relatore: Candidato: Chiar.mo Prof. Maurizio BRASINI Valentina Angela Martina BERGERO Matr. N°: 0009500 ANNO ACCADEMICO 2019/2020 INDICE INTRODUZIONE CAPITOLO 1 – RECLUTAMENTO 1.1 – I Culti 1.2 – Reclutamento 1.3 – Reclutamento secondo la deprivation theory 1.4 – Reclutamento secondo la psicologia di gruppo 1.5 – Reclutamento: Studi Empirici 1.6 – Reclutamento nella corrente del lavaggio del cervello CAPITOLO 2 – LA CONVERSIONE 2.1 – Significato e modelli di conversione 2.2 – Psicopatologia e conversione 2.3 – Conversione e teoria delle relazioni oggettuali 2.4 – Conversione e brainwashing 2.5 – Le critiche alla teoria del brainwashing 2.6 – Conversione e dissonanza cognitiva in caso di fallimento della dottrina CAPITOLO 3 – LASCIARE IL CULTO 3.1 – I motivi per lasciare il culto 3.2 – Disaffiliazione e rapporto tra sé e gli altri 3.3 – Lasciare il culto: Modello brainwashing 3.4 – Impatto della disaffiliazione sugli ex membri CONCLUSIONI BIBLIOGRAFIA 1 INTRODUZIONE L'uomo è un essere sociale e, come tale, è spinto alla ricerca di affiliazione in un gruppo che possa soddisfare le sue esigenze. La prima volta in cui si è sentito parlare di culti risale a più di sessant'anni fa, quando le prime comuni spirituali sorgevano negli Stati Uniti. La storia è zeppa di teorie che hanno approcciato i culti, tentando di spiegarne il funzionamento, l'efficacia o il grado di dannosità; dalle analisi sulla personalità dei leader carismatici a capo delle sette, fino all'approfondimento delle ricerche concentrate sugli affiliati, la comunità scientifica cerca da sempre di dare un'indicazione, empirica e non, sulle dinamiche che si sviluppano all'interno di gruppo religioso non ufficiale.
    [Show full text]
  • Does “Mental Slavery” Exist? an Expert Opinion
    $ The Journal of CESNUR $ Does “Mental Slavery” Exist? An Expert Opinion Massimo Introvigne CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) [email protected] Holly Folk Western Washington University [email protected] Liselotte Frisk Dalarna University [email protected] Susan Palmer McGill University, Montreal [email protected] James T. Richardson University of Nevada, Reno [email protected] ABSTRACT: In August 2018, lawyers representing Daniel Ambash requested five leading scholars of new religious movements to prepare an expert opinion on whether something called “mental slavery” is generally recognized as a feature of the controversial new religious movement labeled as “cults” by their opponents. The scholars accepted to prepare an opinion pro bono (i.e. without requesting or accepting any honorary) on the general issue of “mental slavery,” summarizing or reproducing their previous work, without directly addressing the case of Daniel Ambash. Their conclusion was that “mental slavery” is simply used in this context as a synonym for “brainwashing,” and that brainwashing theories have been debunked long ago as pseudo-scientific tools used to limit religious liberty of unpopular minorities and justify the criminal practice of deprogramming. KEYWORDS: Mental Slavery, Mind Control, Brainwashing, Anti-Cult Movements, Margaret Singer, Deprogramming. The Journal of CESNUR, Volume 2, Issue 6, November—December 2018, pages 74—97. © 2018 by CESNUR. All rights reserved. ISSN: 2532-2990 | www.cesnur.net | DOI: 10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.6.6 Does “Mental Slavery” Exist? An Expert Opinion Introduction We have been requested of an expert opinion on the subject whether notions such as “brainwashing,” “mind control,” or “mental slavery,” allegedly used by “cults” to control their “victims,” are generally accepted in the social scientific study of new religious movements.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of the Phenomenon of Cults in Israel
    STATE OF ISRAEL THE MINISTRY OF WELFARE AND SOCIAL SERVICES REPORT OF MINISTRY OF WELFARE AND SOCIAL SERVICES TEAM, AN EXAMINATION OF THE PHENOMENON OF CULTS IN ISRAEL ___________________________________________________________ Submitted to the Minister of Welfare and Social Services, Member of Knesset Moshe Kahalon Team Chairman: Nahum Itzkovitz - The Director General Team Work Coordinator: Ido Benjamin - Advisor to the Director General Report Editor: Hana Kupfer – Research, Planning and Training Division Adar A - 5771 March 2011 CONTENTS Preliminary Remarks - Nahum Itzkovitz, the Team Chairman The Team's Work Management Synopsis Part I - The Cult Phenomenon - Theoretical Review and Recommendations for Action Introduction 1. Difficulties in defining a cult, and its characteristics 2. Usually accepted definitions and classifications of cults 2.1 Definitions of researchers and counselors 2.2 Definitions of organizations world-wide and in Israel 2.3 Classifications of cults 3. Leadership methods, recruitment and conversion 3.1 Leadership figure 3.2 Processes of recruitment and conversion 4. Characterization of victims and injuries 4.1 Characterization of the victims 4.2 Types of injuries 5. Cults in Israel 5.1 The Scope and nature of the phenomenon 5.2 Characteristics of the victims and effects of the injuries caused 5.3 The legal position 6. Treatment, assistance and support 6.1 Counseling for cult members 6.2 Assistance and support for relatives and close associates 6.2 Solutions for the mass public 7. Recommended action 7.1 Preventive action 7.2 Counseling-related interventions 7.3 Legislative amendments 7.4 Government decision Concluding summary Bibliography Part II – Manual for Social Workers and Counselors Introduction 1.
    [Show full text]
  • What Should We Do About the Cults? Policies, Information and the Perspective of INFORM
    Eileen Barker What should we do about the cults? Policies, information and the perspective of INFORM Book section Original citation: Originally published in Côté, Pauline and Gunn, Jeremy, (eds.) The new religious question: state regulation or state interference? Peter Lang, Bruxelles, Belgium, pp. 371-395. © 2006 The Author This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/50880/ Available in LSE Research Online: August 2013 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s submitted version of the book section. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. What Should We Do About the Cults? Policies, Information and the Perspective of Inform Eileen Barker, London School of Economics Contribution to Pauline Coté and T. Jeremy Gunn (eds.), Régulation ou ingérence des pouvoirs publics? / State Regulation or State Interference? La nouvelle question religieuse / Public Management of Religious Diversity History is full of instances in which citizens with a vested interest in preserving the status quo have greeted anything new with suspicion and distrust.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Singer Tape Collection Margaret Thaler Singer (1921–2003) Was a Renowned Expert in the Subject of Mind Control. Trai
    Margaret Singer Tape Collection Margaret Thaler Singer (1921–2003) was a renowned expert in the subject of mind control. Trained as a clinical psychologist, with a Ph.D. from the University of Denver, she conducted research on troops who returned from the Korean War to determine the psychological stresses they had undergone. While she taught as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, for many years, she primarily worked with families whose adult children were members of cults, that is, new religious movements. A board member of the American Family Foundation (now the International Cultic Studies Association), she testified at numerous civil trials brought against cults as to the presence of brainwashing to account for changes in behaviors and beliefs. Though she attempted to testify at the criminal trial of Patty Hearst in 1976—claiming that the newspaper heiress had been subjected to brainwashing in order to explain Hearst’s participation in armed bank robberies conducted by the Symbionese Liberation Army—the judge did not allow Singer’s defense. Singer outlined the steps of coercive persuasion (or thought reform) with co-author Janja Lalich in the book Cults in Our Midst (Jossey-Bass, 1995 and 2003). Singer became interested in Peoples Temple shortly before the deaths in Jonestown in November 1978. She was asked to work with former members at the Human Freedom Center, an organization established to help people leave the Temple. The center’s offices in Berkeley became a hub of activity after Jonestown, with bereaved relatives, former members, and survivors of the tragedy gathering to share stories and get help.
    [Show full text]