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Christian countercult movement

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The Christian countercult movement is a social movement of certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist[1] and other Christian ministries ("discernment ministries"[2]) and individual activists who oppose religious sects they consider "cults".[3]


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview
2 History 2.1 Precursors and pioneers
2.2 Mid twentieth century apologists
2.3 Walter Martin
3 Other technical terminology
4 Apologetics
5 Worldwide organizations 5.1 Protestant
5.2 Catholic
5.3 Orthodox
6 Contextual missiology
7 Variations and models
8 Prominent advocates 8.1 People
8.2 Organizations
9 See also
10 References 10.1 Primary sources
10.2 History and critical assessments
11 External links

Overview[edit]
Christian countercult activism stems mainly from evangelicalism or fundamentalism. The countercult movement asserts that particular Christian sects whose beliefs they deem to be partially or wholly not in accordance with the Bible are erroneous. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a cult if its beliefs involve a denial of what they view as any of the essential Christian teachings such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry and miracles of Jesus, his crucifixion, his resurrection, the Second Coming and the Rapture.[4][5][6]
Countercult ministries often concern themselves with religious sects that consider themselves Christian but hold beliefs thought to contradict the Bible, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Unification Church, Christian Science, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Anti-Catholic movements have lead Protestants to classify Catholicism as a cult. John Highham described anti-Catholicism as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history".[7] Some also denounce non-Christian religions such as Islam, Wicca, Paganism, New Age groups, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions.
Countercult literature usually expresses doctrinal or theological concerns and a missionary or apologetic purpose.[8] It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible against the beliefs of non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults.[9][10][11] Some Christians also share concerns similar to those of the secular anti-cult movement.[12][13]
The movement publishes its views through a variety of media including books, magazines, and newsletters, radio broadcasting; audio and videocassette production, direct mail appeals, proactive evangelistic encounters, professional and avocational Internet Websites, as well as lecture series, training workshops and counter cult conferences.[1]
History[edit]
Precursors and pioneers[edit]
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of non-orthodox movements throughout church history.[14][15][16] The Apostles themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The Apostle Paul wrote an entire epistle, Galatians, antagonistic to the teachings of a Jewish sect that claimed adherence to the teachings of both Jesus and Moses (cf. Acts 15: & Gal. 1:6-10). The Apostle John devoted his first Epistle to countering early proto-gnostic cults that had arisen in the first century, all claiming to be "Christian" (1 Jn. 2:19).[citation needed]
The early Church in the post-apostolic period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative soteriologies — either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the Hellenistic mysteries."[17] In fact, a good deal of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups.[18][19] Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome were among the greatest early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.[20][21][22]
In the Protestant traditions some of the earliest writings opposing unorthodox groups like Swedenborg's teachings, can be traced back to John Wesley, Alexander Campbell and Princeton Theological Seminary theologians like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield.[23][24] The first known usage of the term "cult" by a Protestant apologist to denote a group is heretical or unorthodox is in Anti-Christian Cults by A. H. Barrington, published in 1898.[25]
Quite a few of the pioneering apologists were Baptist pastors, like I. M. Haldeman, or participants in the Plymouth Brethren, like William C. Irvine and Sydney Watson.[26] Watson wrote a series of didactic novels like Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science,[27] Bewitched by Spiritualism,[28] and The Gilded Lie, as warnings of the dangers posed by cultic groups. Watson's use of fiction to counter the cults has been repeated by later novelists like Frank E. Peretti.[29][30]
The early twentieth century apologists generally applied the words "heresy" and "sects" to groups like the Christadelphians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Spiritualists, and Theosophists. This was reflected in several chapters contributed to the multi-volume work released in 1915 The Fundamentals, where apologists criticised the teachings of Charles Taze Russell, Mary Baker Eddy, the Mormons and Spiritualists.[31][32][33][34]
Mid twentieth century apologists[edit]
Since at least the 1940s, the approach of traditional Christians was to apply the meaning of cult such that it included those religious groups who use other scriptures beside the Bible or have teachings and practices deviating from traditional Christian teachings and practices. Some examples of sources (with published dates where known) that documented this approach are:
The Missionary Faces Isms, by John C. Mattes, pub. 1937 (Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America).
Heresies Ancient and Modern, by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.1948 (Marshall Morgan & Scott, London/Zondervan, Grand Rapids).
Sanders, J. Oswald (1973). Cults and isms (Revised ed. ed.). London: Lakeland. ISBN 978-0551004580.
Baalen, Jan Karel van (1962). The chaos of cults; a study of present-day isms. (4th rev. and enl. ed. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0802832788.
Heresies Exposed, by W.C. Irvine, pub. 1917, 1921, 1975 (Loizeaux Brothers).
Confusion of Tongues, by C.W. Ferguson, pub. 1928 (Doran & Co).
Isms New and Old, by Julius Bodensieck.
Some Latter-Day Religions, by G.H.Combs.
One of the first prominent counter-cult apologists was Jan Karel van Baalen (1890–1968), an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. His book, The Chaos of Cults, which was first published in 1938, became a classic in the field as it was repeatedly revised and updated until 1962.[35]
Walter Martin[edit]
Historically, one of the most important protagonists of the movement was Walter Martin (1928–89), whose numerous books include the 1955 The Rise of the Cults: An Introductory Guide to the Non-Christian Cults and the 1965 The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era, which continues to be influential. He became well known in conservative Christian circles through a radio program, "The Bible Answer Man", currently hosted by Hank Hanegraaff.
In The Rise of the Cults[36] Martin gave the following definition of a cult:

By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
As Martin's definition suggests, the countercult ministries concentrate on non-traditional groups that claim to be Christian, so chief targets have been The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., "Mormons"), Jehovah's Witnesses, Armstrongism, Christian Science and the Unification Church, but also smaller groups like the Swedenborgian Church[37]
Various other conservative Christian leaders—among them John Ankerberg and Norman Geisler—have emphasized themes similar to Martin's.[38][39] Perhaps more importantly, numerous other well-known conservative Christian leaders as well as many conservative pastors have accepted Martin's definition of a cult as well as his understanding of the groups to which he gave that label. Dave Breese[40] summed up this kind of definition[41] in these words:

A cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the world of religion which calls for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy. A cult may take many forms but it is basically a religious movement which distorts or warps orthodox faith to the point where truth becomes perverted into a lie. A cult is impossible to define except against the absolute standard of the teaching of Holy Scripture.
Other technical terminology[edit]
Since the 1980s the term "new religions" or "new religious movements" has slowly entered into Evangelical usage alongside the word "cult". Some book titles use both terms.[42][43][44]
The acceptance of these alternatives to the word "cult" in Evangelicalism reflects, in part, the wider usage of such language in the sociology of religion.[45]
Apologetics[edit]
The term "countercult apologetics" first appeared in Protestant Evangelical literature as a self-designation in the late 1970s and early 1980s in articles by Ronald Enroth and David Fetcho, and by Walter Martin in Martin Speaks Out on the Cults.[46] A mid-1980s debate about apologetic methodology between Ronald Enroth and J. Gordon Melton, led the latter to place more emphasis in his publications on differentiating the Christian countercult from the secular anti-cult.[47] Eric Pement urged Melton to adopt the label "Christian countercult",[48] and since the early 1990s the terms has entered into popular usage and is recognised by sociologists such as Douglas Cowan.[49]
The only existing umbrella organization within the countercult movement in the USA is the EMNR (Evangelical Ministries to New Religions) founded in 1982 which has the evangelical Lausanne Covenant as governing document and which stresses mission, scholarship, accountability and networking.
Worldwide organizations[edit]
While the greatest number of countercult ministries are found in the USA, ministries exist in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. A comparison between the methods employed in the USA and other nations discloses some similarities in emphasis, but also other nuances in emphasis. The similarities are that globally these ministries share a common concern about the evangelization of people in cults and new religions. There is also often a common thread of comparing orthodox doctrines and biblical passages with the teachings of the groups under examination. However, in some of the European and southern hemisphere contexts, confrontational methods of engagement are not always relied on, and dialogical approaches are sometimes advocated.
A group of organizations which originated within the context of established religion is working in more general fields of cult-awareness, especially in Europe. Their leaders are theologians, and they are often social ministries affiliated to big churches.
Protestant[edit]
Berlin-based Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen[50] ("Parish Office for Sects and World Views.") headed by Lutheran Pastor Thomas Gandow[51]
Swiss "Evangelische Informationsstelle Kirchen-Sekten-Religionen" (Protestant Reformed Zwinglian Information Service on Churches, Sects and Religions) headed by Zwinglian Parson Georg Schmid[52]
Catholic[edit]
Sekten und Weltanschauungen in Sachsen (Sects and ideologies in Saxony)[53]
Weltanschauungen und religiöse Gruppierungen ("Worldviews and religious groups") of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Linz, Austria[54]
GRIS (Gruppo di ricerca e informazione socio-religiosa), Italy[55]
Orthodox[edit]
Synodic Committee about Heresies of Greek Orthodox Church[56]
Center of Ireneus of Lyon in Russia.
Contextual missiology[edit]
The phenomena of "cults" has also entered into the discourses of Christian missions and theology of religions. An initial step in this direction occurred in 1980 when the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization convened a mini-consultation in Thailand. From that consultation a position paper was produced.[57] The issue was revisited at the Lausanne Forum in 2004 with another paper.[58] The latter paper adopts a different methodology to that advocated in 1980.
In the 1990s discussions in academic missions and theological journals indicate that another trajectory is emerging which reflects the influence of contextual missions theory. Advocates of this approach maintain that apologetics as a tool needs to be retained, but do not favour a confrontational style of engagement.[59]
Variations and models[edit]
Countercult apologetics has several variations and methods employed in analysing and responding to cults. The different nuances in countercult apologetics have been discussed by John A. Saliba and Philip Johnson.[60]
The dominant method is the emphasis on detecting unorthodox or heretical doctrines and contrasting those with orthodox interpretations of the Bible and early creedal documents. Some apologists, such as Francis J. Beckwith, have emphasised a philosophical approach, pointing out logical, epistemological and metaphysical problems within the teachings of a particular group.[61] Another approach involves former members of cultic groups recounting their spiritual autobiographies, which highlight experiences of disenchantment with the group, unanswered questions and doubts about commitment to the group, culminating in the person's conversion to Evangelical Christianity.[62]
Apologists like Dave Hunt in Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust and Hal Lindsey in The Terminal Generation have tended to interpret the phenomena of cults as part of the burgeoning evidence of signs that Christ's Second Advent is close at hand.[63] Both Hunt, and Constance Cumbey, have applied a conspiracy model to interpreting the emergence of New Age spirituality and linking that to speculations about fulfilled prophecies heralding Christ's reappearance.[64]
Prominent advocates[edit]
People[edit]
Constance Cumbey
Douglas Groothuis
Dave Hunt
Greg Koukl
J. P. Moreland, Biola University
Norman Geisler
Bob and Gretchen Passantino
Ronald Enroth, evangelical Christian author of books about "cults" and new religious movements.
Texe Marrs
Walter Martin Late Baptist minister who was the host of the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast and the president of the Christian Research Institute. He often used his show to promote arguments against Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other movements.
Organizations[edit]
Answers in Action,[65] Bob and Gretchen Passantino
Apologetics resource center,[66] by Craig Branch
Apologetics Press, [67] current Executive Director Dr. Dave Miller
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) founded by Matt Slick
Christian Research Institute (CRI) founded by Walter Martin
Cult Awareness and Information Centre[68] founded by the late Jan Groenveld
Dialog Center International founded by Johannes Aagaard
EMNR Evangelical Ministries to New Religions,[69] an umbrella group for ministries to the cults and new religions
Midwest Christian Outreach
Mormonism Research Ministry (Bill McKeever)
Personal Freedom Outreach
Spiritual Counterfeits Project, president Tal Brooke
Stand To Reason, founded by Greg Koukl and Melinda Penner
Utah Lighthouse Ministry (Jerald & Sandra Tanner)
Watchman Fellowship, founder David Henke, president James K. Walker[70]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Religion portal
Anti-cult movement
References[edit]


 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2008)
1.^ Jump up to: a b Cowan, D.E. 2003. Bearing False Witness?: An Introduction to the Christian Countercult: Praeger.
2.Jump up ^ Robert M. Bowman, Orthodoxy and Heresy: A Biblical Guide to Doctrinal Discernment, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992, pp. 10, 106-107, & 123-124.
3.Jump up ^ Douglas E Cowan author. Bearing False Witness? Introduction to the Christian Counter Cult. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0275974596
4.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, rev.ed. Santa Ana: Vision House, 1978, pp. 11-12.
5.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions,Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997, p. 33.
6.Jump up ^ H. Wayne House & Gordon Carle, Doctrine Twisting: How Core Biblical Truths are Distorted, Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.
7.Jump up ^ Jenkins, Philip (1 April 2003). The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-19-515480-1.
8.Jump up ^ Garry W. Trompf,"Missiology, Methodology and the Study of New Religious Movements," Religious Traditions Volume 10, 1987, pp. 95-106.
9.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev.ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003, pp.479-493.
10.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. Evangelising the Cults, Milton Keynes: Word, 1990.
11.Jump up ^ Norman L Geisler & Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997.
12.Jump up ^ Paul R. Martin, Cult Proofing Your Kids, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.
13.Jump up ^ Joel A. MacCollam, Carnival of Souls: Religious Cults and Young People, New York: Seabury Press, 1979.
14.Jump up ^ Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, pp.45-74.
15.Jump up ^ Harold O. J. Brown, Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present, Garden City: Doubleday, 1984.
16.Jump up ^ J.W.C.Wand, The Four Great Heresies:Nestorian, Eutychian, Apollinarian, Arian, London: A.R.Mowbray, 1955.
17.Jump up ^ Eric J. Sharpe, Comparative Religion: A History, London: Duckworth, 1975, p. 9
18.Jump up ^ Brown, Heresies, pp.38-69.
19.Jump up ^ Ronald H. Nash, Christianity and the Hellenistic World, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984, pp.213-224.
20.Jump up ^ Avery Dulles, A History of Apologetics, Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1999, pp. 22-58.
21.Jump up ^ J.K.S.Reid, Christian Apologetics, Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans, 1970, pp. 36-53.
22.Jump up ^ Bengt Hagglund, History of Theology, trans. Gene J. Lund, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968, pp.31-105.
23.Jump up ^ Richard G. Kyle, The Religious Fringe: A History of Alternative Religions in America, Downers Grove: IVP, 1993.
24.Jump up ^ Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
25.Jump up ^ A.H.Barrington, Anti-Christian Cults, Milwaukee:Young Churchman/London:Sampson Low, Marston, 1898.
26.Jump up ^ J. Gordon Melton,"The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 102–113.
27.Jump up ^ Sydney Watson, Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science, London:William Nichoson & Sons, no date.
28.Jump up ^ Sydney Watson, The Lure of a Soul: Bewitched by Spiritualism, London: W. Nicholson & Sons, no date.
29.Jump up ^ Frank E. Peretti, This Present Darkness, Westchester: Crossway,1986.
30.Jump up ^ James R. Lewis, "Works of Darkness: Occult Fascination in the Novels of Frank Peretti" in Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, James R. Lewis ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996, pp.339-350.
31.Jump up ^ William G. Moorehead, ‘Millennial Dawn A Counterfeit of Christianity’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 7. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
32.Jump up ^ Maurice E. Wilson, ‘Eddyism, Commonly Called “Christian Science”, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 9. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
33.Jump up ^ R. G. McNiece, ‘Mormonism: Its Origin, Characteristics, and Doctrines’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 8. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
34.Jump up ^ Algernon J. Pollock, ‘Modern Spiritualism Briefly Tested By Scripture’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 10. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
35.Jump up ^ J.K.van Baalen, The Chaos of Cults, 4th rev.ed.Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing, 1962.
36.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1955, pp. 11-12.
37.Jump up ^ Each of these movements are treated in separate chapters in Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev. ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003.
38.Jump up ^ John Ankerberg & John Weldon, Cult Watch,Eugene: Harvest House, 1991, pp. i-x.
39.Jump up ^ Geisler & Rhodes, When Cultists Ask, pp. 10-11.
40.Jump up ^ Dave Breese, Know the Marks of Cults, Wheaton: Victor, 1975, 14.
41.Jump up ^ Compare this definition with heresy.
42.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family, Wheaton: Crossway, 1998.
43.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. A Guide to New Religious Movements, Downers Grove: IVP, 2005.
44.Jump up ^ Ron Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.
45.Jump up ^ On sociological understandings see for example Eileen Barker, New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989. George D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions, London & New York: Cassell, 1999.Jacob Needleman & George Baker ed. Understanding the New Religions, New York: Seabury Press, 1981. Mikael Rothstein & Reender Kranenborg ed. New Religions in a Postmodern World, Aarhus, Denmark: Aargus University Press, 2003.
46.Jump up ^ Ronald M. Enroth, "Cult/Counter-cult", Eternity, November 1977, pp.18-22 & 32-35. David Fetcho, "Disclosing the Unknown God: Evangelism to the New Religions", Update: A Quarterly Journal on New Religious Movements Volume 6, number 4 December 1982 p.8. Walter R. Martin, Martin Speaks Out On The Cults, rev. ed. Ventura: Vision House, 1983,pp.124-125.
47.Jump up ^ Ronald M. Enroth and J. Gordon Melton, Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails, Elgin: Brethren, 1985, pp. 25-30.
48.Jump up ^ Eric Pement, ‘Comments on the Directory’ in Keith Edward Tolbert and Eric Pement, The 1993 Directory of Cult Research Organizations,Trenton: American Religions Center, 1993, p. x.
49.Jump up ^ Douglas E. Cowan, Bearing False Witness? An Introduction ot the Christian Countercult, Westport: Praeger, 2003.
50.Jump up ^ Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen - Index
51.Jump up ^ Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen - Pfarrer Gandow
52.Jump up ^ Relinfo
53.Jump up ^ Sekten in Sachsen
54.Jump up ^ Sekten & Gruppierungen
55.Jump up ^ www.gris.org
56.Jump up ^ http://www.ecclesia.gr/greek/holySynod/commitees/heresies/omades.html
57.Jump up ^ The Thailand Report on New Religious Movements
58.Jump up ^ Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World
59.Jump up ^ Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost & John W. Morehead ed. Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004.Gordon R. Lewis, "Our Mission Responsibility to New Religious Movements" International Journal of Frontier Missions Volume 15, number 3 July–September 1998,p. 116.
60.Jump up ^ Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, pp.212-223. Philip Johnson, "Apologetics, Mission and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach," Sacred Tribes Journal, Volume 1, number 1 Fall 2002 5-220.
61.Jump up ^ Francis J. Beckwith & Stephen E. Parrish, See the gods fall, Joplin: College Press, 1997. Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser & Paul Owen ed. The New Mormon Challenge, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
62.Jump up ^ James R. Adair & Ted Miller ed. Escape from Darkness, Wheaton: Victor, 1982.Chris Elkins, Heavenly Deception, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1980. Joe Hewitt, I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness, Denver: Accent Books, 1979. Latayne C. Scott, Ex-Mormons: Why We Left, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990.
63.Jump up ^ Dave Hunt, Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust: The New Age Movement in Prophecy, Eugene: Harvest House, 1983. Hal Lindsey, The Terminal Generation, Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, 1976.
64.Jump up ^ Constance E. Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, Shreveport: Huntington House, 1983. Evaluated in Elliot Miller, A Crash Course on the New Age Movement, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, pp. 193-206. John A. Saliba, Christian Responses to the New Age Movement: A Critical Assessment, London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1999, pp.58-63.
65.Jump up ^ Answers In Action - Truth Brings Light
66.Jump up ^ Apologetics Resource Center (ARC) - Birmingham, AL
67.Jump up ^ About Apologetics Press.org
68.Jump up ^ Cult Help and Information - Home
69.Jump up ^ Welcome to EMNR On-Line
70.Jump up ^ Moore, Waveney Ann (September 17, 2003), "Fundamental advice", St. Petersburg Times
Primary sources[edit]
Abanes, Richard, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family, Crossway Books, Wheaton, 1998.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, Harvest House, Eugene, 1999.
Enroth, Ronald (ed)., A Guide to New Religious Movements, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2005.
Geisler, Norman L. and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1997
House, H.Wayne, Charts of Cults, Sects and Religious Movements, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2000.
LeBar, James J. Cults, Sects, and the New Age, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, 1989.
Martin, Walter R. The Kingdom of the Cults, edited by Ravi Zacharias, Bethany, Bloomington, 2003
McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, Handbook of Today's Religions, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1992
Rhodes, Ron, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2001
Sire, James W. Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1980.
Sire, James W. The Universe Next Door 4th ed., InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2004.
Tucker, Ruth A. Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2004.
Vatican Report on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements, St. Paul Publications, Sydney, 1988.
History and critical assessments[edit]
Cowan, Douglas E. Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult (Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut & London, 2003).
Enroth, Ronald M. and J. Gordon Melton, Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails (Brethren Press, Elgin, 1985).
Jenkins, Philip, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History (Oxford University Press, New York, 2000).
Johnson, Philip, "Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach," Sacred Tribes: Journal of Christian Missions to New Religious Movements, 1 (1) (2002)
Melton, J. Gordon., "The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, (Routledge, London, 2003), pp. 102–113.
Saliba, John A., Understanding New Religious Movements, 2nd edition (Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York & Oxford, 2003).
External links[edit]
Apologetics Index; The counter-cult movement
Douglas E. Cowan: Christian Countercult Website Profiles
CESNUR: Overview of Christian Countercult movement by Douglas E. Cowan
Counter Cult Movement at Religious Tolerance
Jeff Lindsay's discussion of cults from an LDS perspective
Article: Anti-"Minority Religion" Groups with "Big Religion" Ties


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Opposition to new religious movements


Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
 Cult Awareness Network ·
 International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
 The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
 Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
 Cult Information Centre
 

Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
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 Ted Patrick ·
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 Tom Sackville ·
 Jim Siegelman ·
 Margaret Singer ·
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 Cyril Vosper ·
 Lawrence Wollersheim
 

Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
 Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
 Christian Research Institute ·
 Dialog Center International ·
 Personal Freedom Outreach ·
 Watchman Fellowship ·
 New England Institute of Religious Research ·
 Midwest Christian Outreach ·
 Institute for Religious Research ·
 Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
 Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
 

Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
 Alexander Dvorkin ·
 Ronald Enroth ·
 Hank Hanegraaff ·
 Paul R. Martin ·
 Walter Ralston Martin ·
 Robert Passantino
 

Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
 Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
 Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
 MIVILUDES ·
 Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
 

Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
 

Concepts
Cult ·
 NRM apologist ·
 Deprogramming ·
 Freedom of religion ·
 Heresy ·
 Mind control ·
 New religious movement
 

Historical events
About-Picard law ·
 Governmental lists of cults and sects ·
 Persecution of Bahá'ís ·
 Persecution of Falun Gong ·
 Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses ·
 Anti-Mormonism ·
 Scientology in Germany
 

  


Categories: Christian countercult movement
Religious persecution
Persecution by Christians








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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_countercult_movement

















Christian countercult movement

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The Christian countercult movement is a social movement of certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist[1] and other Christian ministries ("discernment ministries"[2]) and individual activists who oppose religious sects they consider "cults".[3]


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview
2 History 2.1 Precursors and pioneers
2.2 Mid twentieth century apologists
2.3 Walter Martin
3 Other technical terminology
4 Apologetics
5 Worldwide organizations 5.1 Protestant
5.2 Catholic
5.3 Orthodox
6 Contextual missiology
7 Variations and models
8 Prominent advocates 8.1 People
8.2 Organizations
9 See also
10 References 10.1 Primary sources
10.2 History and critical assessments
11 External links

Overview[edit]
Christian countercult activism stems mainly from evangelicalism or fundamentalism. The countercult movement asserts that particular Christian sects whose beliefs they deem to be partially or wholly not in accordance with the Bible are erroneous. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a cult if its beliefs involve a denial of what they view as any of the essential Christian teachings such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry and miracles of Jesus, his crucifixion, his resurrection, the Second Coming and the Rapture.[4][5][6]
Countercult ministries often concern themselves with religious sects that consider themselves Christian but hold beliefs thought to contradict the Bible, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Unification Church, Christian Science, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Anti-Catholic movements have lead Protestants to classify Catholicism as a cult. John Highham described anti-Catholicism as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history".[7] Some also denounce non-Christian religions such as Islam, Wicca, Paganism, New Age groups, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions.
Countercult literature usually expresses doctrinal or theological concerns and a missionary or apologetic purpose.[8] It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible against the beliefs of non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults.[9][10][11] Some Christians also share concerns similar to those of the secular anti-cult movement.[12][13]
The movement publishes its views through a variety of media including books, magazines, and newsletters, radio broadcasting; audio and videocassette production, direct mail appeals, proactive evangelistic encounters, professional and avocational Internet Websites, as well as lecture series, training workshops and counter cult conferences.[1]
History[edit]
Precursors and pioneers[edit]
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of non-orthodox movements throughout church history.[14][15][16] The Apostles themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The Apostle Paul wrote an entire epistle, Galatians, antagonistic to the teachings of a Jewish sect that claimed adherence to the teachings of both Jesus and Moses (cf. Acts 15: & Gal. 1:6-10). The Apostle John devoted his first Epistle to countering early proto-gnostic cults that had arisen in the first century, all claiming to be "Christian" (1 Jn. 2:19).[citation needed]
The early Church in the post-apostolic period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative soteriologies — either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the Hellenistic mysteries."[17] In fact, a good deal of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups.[18][19] Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome were among the greatest early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.[20][21][22]
In the Protestant traditions some of the earliest writings opposing unorthodox groups like Swedenborg's teachings, can be traced back to John Wesley, Alexander Campbell and Princeton Theological Seminary theologians like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield.[23][24] The first known usage of the term "cult" by a Protestant apologist to denote a group is heretical or unorthodox is in Anti-Christian Cults by A. H. Barrington, published in 1898.[25]
Quite a few of the pioneering apologists were Baptist pastors, like I. M. Haldeman, or participants in the Plymouth Brethren, like William C. Irvine and Sydney Watson.[26] Watson wrote a series of didactic novels like Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science,[27] Bewitched by Spiritualism,[28] and The Gilded Lie, as warnings of the dangers posed by cultic groups. Watson's use of fiction to counter the cults has been repeated by later novelists like Frank E. Peretti.[29][30]
The early twentieth century apologists generally applied the words "heresy" and "sects" to groups like the Christadelphians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Spiritualists, and Theosophists. This was reflected in several chapters contributed to the multi-volume work released in 1915 The Fundamentals, where apologists criticised the teachings of Charles Taze Russell, Mary Baker Eddy, the Mormons and Spiritualists.[31][32][33][34]
Mid twentieth century apologists[edit]
Since at least the 1940s, the approach of traditional Christians was to apply the meaning of cult such that it included those religious groups who use other scriptures beside the Bible or have teachings and practices deviating from traditional Christian teachings and practices. Some examples of sources (with published dates where known) that documented this approach are:
The Missionary Faces Isms, by John C. Mattes, pub. 1937 (Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America).
Heresies Ancient and Modern, by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.1948 (Marshall Morgan & Scott, London/Zondervan, Grand Rapids).
Sanders, J. Oswald (1973). Cults and isms (Revised ed. ed.). London: Lakeland. ISBN 978-0551004580.
Baalen, Jan Karel van (1962). The chaos of cults; a study of present-day isms. (4th rev. and enl. ed. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0802832788.
Heresies Exposed, by W.C. Irvine, pub. 1917, 1921, 1975 (Loizeaux Brothers).
Confusion of Tongues, by C.W. Ferguson, pub. 1928 (Doran & Co).
Isms New and Old, by Julius Bodensieck.
Some Latter-Day Religions, by G.H.Combs.
One of the first prominent counter-cult apologists was Jan Karel van Baalen (1890–1968), an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. His book, The Chaos of Cults, which was first published in 1938, became a classic in the field as it was repeatedly revised and updated until 1962.[35]
Walter Martin[edit]
Historically, one of the most important protagonists of the movement was Walter Martin (1928–89), whose numerous books include the 1955 The Rise of the Cults: An Introductory Guide to the Non-Christian Cults and the 1965 The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era, which continues to be influential. He became well known in conservative Christian circles through a radio program, "The Bible Answer Man", currently hosted by Hank Hanegraaff.
In The Rise of the Cults[36] Martin gave the following definition of a cult:

By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
As Martin's definition suggests, the countercult ministries concentrate on non-traditional groups that claim to be Christian, so chief targets have been The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., "Mormons"), Jehovah's Witnesses, Armstrongism, Christian Science and the Unification Church, but also smaller groups like the Swedenborgian Church[37]
Various other conservative Christian leaders—among them John Ankerberg and Norman Geisler—have emphasized themes similar to Martin's.[38][39] Perhaps more importantly, numerous other well-known conservative Christian leaders as well as many conservative pastors have accepted Martin's definition of a cult as well as his understanding of the groups to which he gave that label. Dave Breese[40] summed up this kind of definition[41] in these words:

A cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the world of religion which calls for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy. A cult may take many forms but it is basically a religious movement which distorts or warps orthodox faith to the point where truth becomes perverted into a lie. A cult is impossible to define except against the absolute standard of the teaching of Holy Scripture.
Other technical terminology[edit]
Since the 1980s the term "new religions" or "new religious movements" has slowly entered into Evangelical usage alongside the word "cult". Some book titles use both terms.[42][43][44]
The acceptance of these alternatives to the word "cult" in Evangelicalism reflects, in part, the wider usage of such language in the sociology of religion.[45]
Apologetics[edit]
The term "countercult apologetics" first appeared in Protestant Evangelical literature as a self-designation in the late 1970s and early 1980s in articles by Ronald Enroth and David Fetcho, and by Walter Martin in Martin Speaks Out on the Cults.[46] A mid-1980s debate about apologetic methodology between Ronald Enroth and J. Gordon Melton, led the latter to place more emphasis in his publications on differentiating the Christian countercult from the secular anti-cult.[47] Eric Pement urged Melton to adopt the label "Christian countercult",[48] and since the early 1990s the terms has entered into popular usage and is recognised by sociologists such as Douglas Cowan.[49]
The only existing umbrella organization within the countercult movement in the USA is the EMNR (Evangelical Ministries to New Religions) founded in 1982 which has the evangelical Lausanne Covenant as governing document and which stresses mission, scholarship, accountability and networking.
Worldwide organizations[edit]
While the greatest number of countercult ministries are found in the USA, ministries exist in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. A comparison between the methods employed in the USA and other nations discloses some similarities in emphasis, but also other nuances in emphasis. The similarities are that globally these ministries share a common concern about the evangelization of people in cults and new religions. There is also often a common thread of comparing orthodox doctrines and biblical passages with the teachings of the groups under examination. However, in some of the European and southern hemisphere contexts, confrontational methods of engagement are not always relied on, and dialogical approaches are sometimes advocated.
A group of organizations which originated within the context of established religion is working in more general fields of cult-awareness, especially in Europe. Their leaders are theologians, and they are often social ministries affiliated to big churches.
Protestant[edit]
Berlin-based Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen[50] ("Parish Office for Sects and World Views.") headed by Lutheran Pastor Thomas Gandow[51]
Swiss "Evangelische Informationsstelle Kirchen-Sekten-Religionen" (Protestant Reformed Zwinglian Information Service on Churches, Sects and Religions) headed by Zwinglian Parson Georg Schmid[52]
Catholic[edit]
Sekten und Weltanschauungen in Sachsen (Sects and ideologies in Saxony)[53]
Weltanschauungen und religiöse Gruppierungen ("Worldviews and religious groups") of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Linz, Austria[54]
GRIS (Gruppo di ricerca e informazione socio-religiosa), Italy[55]
Orthodox[edit]
Synodic Committee about Heresies of Greek Orthodox Church[56]
Center of Ireneus of Lyon in Russia.
Contextual missiology[edit]
The phenomena of "cults" has also entered into the discourses of Christian missions and theology of religions. An initial step in this direction occurred in 1980 when the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization convened a mini-consultation in Thailand. From that consultation a position paper was produced.[57] The issue was revisited at the Lausanne Forum in 2004 with another paper.[58] The latter paper adopts a different methodology to that advocated in 1980.
In the 1990s discussions in academic missions and theological journals indicate that another trajectory is emerging which reflects the influence of contextual missions theory. Advocates of this approach maintain that apologetics as a tool needs to be retained, but do not favour a confrontational style of engagement.[59]
Variations and models[edit]
Countercult apologetics has several variations and methods employed in analysing and responding to cults. The different nuances in countercult apologetics have been discussed by John A. Saliba and Philip Johnson.[60]
The dominant method is the emphasis on detecting unorthodox or heretical doctrines and contrasting those with orthodox interpretations of the Bible and early creedal documents. Some apologists, such as Francis J. Beckwith, have emphasised a philosophical approach, pointing out logical, epistemological and metaphysical problems within the teachings of a particular group.[61] Another approach involves former members of cultic groups recounting their spiritual autobiographies, which highlight experiences of disenchantment with the group, unanswered questions and doubts about commitment to the group, culminating in the person's conversion to Evangelical Christianity.[62]
Apologists like Dave Hunt in Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust and Hal Lindsey in The Terminal Generation have tended to interpret the phenomena of cults as part of the burgeoning evidence of signs that Christ's Second Advent is close at hand.[63] Both Hunt, and Constance Cumbey, have applied a conspiracy model to interpreting the emergence of New Age spirituality and linking that to speculations about fulfilled prophecies heralding Christ's reappearance.[64]
Prominent advocates[edit]
People[edit]
Constance Cumbey
Douglas Groothuis
Dave Hunt
Greg Koukl
J. P. Moreland, Biola University
Norman Geisler
Bob and Gretchen Passantino
Ronald Enroth, evangelical Christian author of books about "cults" and new religious movements.
Texe Marrs
Walter Martin Late Baptist minister who was the host of the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast and the president of the Christian Research Institute. He often used his show to promote arguments against Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other movements.
Organizations[edit]
Answers in Action,[65] Bob and Gretchen Passantino
Apologetics resource center,[66] by Craig Branch
Apologetics Press, [67] current Executive Director Dr. Dave Miller
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) founded by Matt Slick
Christian Research Institute (CRI) founded by Walter Martin
Cult Awareness and Information Centre[68] founded by the late Jan Groenveld
Dialog Center International founded by Johannes Aagaard
EMNR Evangelical Ministries to New Religions,[69] an umbrella group for ministries to the cults and new religions
Midwest Christian Outreach
Mormonism Research Ministry (Bill McKeever)
Personal Freedom Outreach
Spiritual Counterfeits Project, president Tal Brooke
Stand To Reason, founded by Greg Koukl and Melinda Penner
Utah Lighthouse Ministry (Jerald & Sandra Tanner)
Watchman Fellowship, founder David Henke, president James K. Walker[70]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Religion portal
Anti-cult movement
References[edit]


 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2008)
1.^ Jump up to: a b Cowan, D.E. 2003. Bearing False Witness?: An Introduction to the Christian Countercult: Praeger.
2.Jump up ^ Robert M. Bowman, Orthodoxy and Heresy: A Biblical Guide to Doctrinal Discernment, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992, pp. 10, 106-107, & 123-124.
3.Jump up ^ Douglas E Cowan author. Bearing False Witness? Introduction to the Christian Counter Cult. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0275974596
4.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, rev.ed. Santa Ana: Vision House, 1978, pp. 11-12.
5.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions,Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997, p. 33.
6.Jump up ^ H. Wayne House & Gordon Carle, Doctrine Twisting: How Core Biblical Truths are Distorted, Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.
7.Jump up ^ Jenkins, Philip (1 April 2003). The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-19-515480-1.
8.Jump up ^ Garry W. Trompf,"Missiology, Methodology and the Study of New Religious Movements," Religious Traditions Volume 10, 1987, pp. 95-106.
9.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev.ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003, pp.479-493.
10.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. Evangelising the Cults, Milton Keynes: Word, 1990.
11.Jump up ^ Norman L Geisler & Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997.
12.Jump up ^ Paul R. Martin, Cult Proofing Your Kids, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.
13.Jump up ^ Joel A. MacCollam, Carnival of Souls: Religious Cults and Young People, New York: Seabury Press, 1979.
14.Jump up ^ Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, pp.45-74.
15.Jump up ^ Harold O. J. Brown, Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present, Garden City: Doubleday, 1984.
16.Jump up ^ J.W.C.Wand, The Four Great Heresies:Nestorian, Eutychian, Apollinarian, Arian, London: A.R.Mowbray, 1955.
17.Jump up ^ Eric J. Sharpe, Comparative Religion: A History, London: Duckworth, 1975, p. 9
18.Jump up ^ Brown, Heresies, pp.38-69.
19.Jump up ^ Ronald H. Nash, Christianity and the Hellenistic World, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984, pp.213-224.
20.Jump up ^ Avery Dulles, A History of Apologetics, Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1999, pp. 22-58.
21.Jump up ^ J.K.S.Reid, Christian Apologetics, Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans, 1970, pp. 36-53.
22.Jump up ^ Bengt Hagglund, History of Theology, trans. Gene J. Lund, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968, pp.31-105.
23.Jump up ^ Richard G. Kyle, The Religious Fringe: A History of Alternative Religions in America, Downers Grove: IVP, 1993.
24.Jump up ^ Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
25.Jump up ^ A.H.Barrington, Anti-Christian Cults, Milwaukee:Young Churchman/London:Sampson Low, Marston, 1898.
26.Jump up ^ J. Gordon Melton,"The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 102–113.
27.Jump up ^ Sydney Watson, Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science, London:William Nichoson & Sons, no date.
28.Jump up ^ Sydney Watson, The Lure of a Soul: Bewitched by Spiritualism, London: W. Nicholson & Sons, no date.
29.Jump up ^ Frank E. Peretti, This Present Darkness, Westchester: Crossway,1986.
30.Jump up ^ James R. Lewis, "Works of Darkness: Occult Fascination in the Novels of Frank Peretti" in Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, James R. Lewis ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996, pp.339-350.
31.Jump up ^ William G. Moorehead, ‘Millennial Dawn A Counterfeit of Christianity’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 7. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
32.Jump up ^ Maurice E. Wilson, ‘Eddyism, Commonly Called “Christian Science”, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 9. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
33.Jump up ^ R. G. McNiece, ‘Mormonism: Its Origin, Characteristics, and Doctrines’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 8. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
34.Jump up ^ Algernon J. Pollock, ‘Modern Spiritualism Briefly Tested By Scripture’, in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, Volume 10. Chicago: Testimony Publishing.
35.Jump up ^ J.K.van Baalen, The Chaos of Cults, 4th rev.ed.Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing, 1962.
36.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1955, pp. 11-12.
37.Jump up ^ Each of these movements are treated in separate chapters in Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev. ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003.
38.Jump up ^ John Ankerberg & John Weldon, Cult Watch,Eugene: Harvest House, 1991, pp. i-x.
39.Jump up ^ Geisler & Rhodes, When Cultists Ask, pp. 10-11.
40.Jump up ^ Dave Breese, Know the Marks of Cults, Wheaton: Victor, 1975, 14.
41.Jump up ^ Compare this definition with heresy.
42.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family, Wheaton: Crossway, 1998.
43.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. A Guide to New Religious Movements, Downers Grove: IVP, 2005.
44.Jump up ^ Ron Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.
45.Jump up ^ On sociological understandings see for example Eileen Barker, New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989. George D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions, London & New York: Cassell, 1999.Jacob Needleman & George Baker ed. Understanding the New Religions, New York: Seabury Press, 1981. Mikael Rothstein & Reender Kranenborg ed. New Religions in a Postmodern World, Aarhus, Denmark: Aargus University Press, 2003.
46.Jump up ^ Ronald M. Enroth, "Cult/Counter-cult", Eternity, November 1977, pp.18-22 & 32-35. David Fetcho, "Disclosing the Unknown God: Evangelism to the New Religions", Update: A Quarterly Journal on New Religious Movements Volume 6, number 4 December 1982 p.8. Walter R. Martin, Martin Speaks Out On The Cults, rev. ed. Ventura: Vision House, 1983,pp.124-125.
47.Jump up ^ Ronald M. Enroth and J. Gordon Melton, Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails, Elgin: Brethren, 1985, pp. 25-30.
48.Jump up ^ Eric Pement, ‘Comments on the Directory’ in Keith Edward Tolbert and Eric Pement, The 1993 Directory of Cult Research Organizations,Trenton: American Religions Center, 1993, p. x.
49.Jump up ^ Douglas E. Cowan, Bearing False Witness? An Introduction ot the Christian Countercult, Westport: Praeger, 2003.
50.Jump up ^ Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen - Index
51.Jump up ^ Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen - Pfarrer Gandow
52.Jump up ^ Relinfo
53.Jump up ^ Sekten in Sachsen
54.Jump up ^ Sekten & Gruppierungen
55.Jump up ^ www.gris.org
56.Jump up ^ http://www.ecclesia.gr/greek/holySynod/commitees/heresies/omades.html
57.Jump up ^ The Thailand Report on New Religious Movements
58.Jump up ^ Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World
59.Jump up ^ Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost & John W. Morehead ed. Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004.Gordon R. Lewis, "Our Mission Responsibility to New Religious Movements" International Journal of Frontier Missions Volume 15, number 3 July–September 1998,p. 116.
60.Jump up ^ Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, pp.212-223. Philip Johnson, "Apologetics, Mission and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach," Sacred Tribes Journal, Volume 1, number 1 Fall 2002 5-220.
61.Jump up ^ Francis J. Beckwith & Stephen E. Parrish, See the gods fall, Joplin: College Press, 1997. Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser & Paul Owen ed. The New Mormon Challenge, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
62.Jump up ^ James R. Adair & Ted Miller ed. Escape from Darkness, Wheaton: Victor, 1982.Chris Elkins, Heavenly Deception, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1980. Joe Hewitt, I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness, Denver: Accent Books, 1979. Latayne C. Scott, Ex-Mormons: Why We Left, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990.
63.Jump up ^ Dave Hunt, Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust: The New Age Movement in Prophecy, Eugene: Harvest House, 1983. Hal Lindsey, The Terminal Generation, Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, 1976.
64.Jump up ^ Constance E. Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, Shreveport: Huntington House, 1983. Evaluated in Elliot Miller, A Crash Course on the New Age Movement, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, pp. 193-206. John A. Saliba, Christian Responses to the New Age Movement: A Critical Assessment, London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1999, pp.58-63.
65.Jump up ^ Answers In Action - Truth Brings Light
66.Jump up ^ Apologetics Resource Center (ARC) - Birmingham, AL
67.Jump up ^ About Apologetics Press.org
68.Jump up ^ Cult Help and Information - Home
69.Jump up ^ Welcome to EMNR On-Line
70.Jump up ^ Moore, Waveney Ann (September 17, 2003), "Fundamental advice", St. Petersburg Times
Primary sources[edit]
Abanes, Richard, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family, Crossway Books, Wheaton, 1998.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, Harvest House, Eugene, 1999.
Enroth, Ronald (ed)., A Guide to New Religious Movements, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2005.
Geisler, Norman L. and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1997
House, H.Wayne, Charts of Cults, Sects and Religious Movements, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2000.
LeBar, James J. Cults, Sects, and the New Age, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, 1989.
Martin, Walter R. The Kingdom of the Cults, edited by Ravi Zacharias, Bethany, Bloomington, 2003
McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, Handbook of Today's Religions, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1992
Rhodes, Ron, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2001
Sire, James W. Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1980.
Sire, James W. The Universe Next Door 4th ed., InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2004.
Tucker, Ruth A. Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2004.
Vatican Report on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements, St. Paul Publications, Sydney, 1988.
History and critical assessments[edit]
Cowan, Douglas E. Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult (Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut & London, 2003).
Enroth, Ronald M. and J. Gordon Melton, Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails (Brethren Press, Elgin, 1985).
Jenkins, Philip, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History (Oxford University Press, New York, 2000).
Johnson, Philip, "Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach," Sacred Tribes: Journal of Christian Missions to New Religious Movements, 1 (1) (2002)
Melton, J. Gordon., "The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, (Routledge, London, 2003), pp. 102–113.
Saliba, John A., Understanding New Religious Movements, 2nd edition (Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York & Oxford, 2003).
External links[edit]
Apologetics Index; The counter-cult movement
Douglas E. Cowan: Christian Countercult Website Profiles
CESNUR: Overview of Christian Countercult movement by Douglas E. Cowan
Counter Cult Movement at Religious Tolerance
Jeff Lindsay's discussion of cults from an LDS perspective
Article: Anti-"Minority Religion" Groups with "Big Religion" Ties


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Opposition to new religious movements


Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
 Cult Awareness Network ·
 International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
 The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
 Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
 Cult Information Centre
 

Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
 Steven Hassan ·
 Galen Kelly ·
 Michael Langone ·
 Ted Patrick ·
 Rick Ross ·
 Tom Sackville ·
 Jim Siegelman ·
 Margaret Singer ·
 Louis Jolyon West ·
 Cyril Vosper ·
 Lawrence Wollersheim
 

Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
 Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
 Christian Research Institute ·
 Dialog Center International ·
 Personal Freedom Outreach ·
 Watchman Fellowship ·
 New England Institute of Religious Research ·
 Midwest Christian Outreach ·
 Institute for Religious Research ·
 Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
 Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
 

Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
 Alexander Dvorkin ·
 Ronald Enroth ·
 Hank Hanegraaff ·
 Paul R. Martin ·
 Walter Ralston Martin ·
 Robert Passantino
 

Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
 Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
 Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
 MIVILUDES ·
 Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
 

Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
 

Concepts
Cult ·
 NRM apologist ·
 Deprogramming ·
 Freedom of religion ·
 Heresy ·
 Mind control ·
 New religious movement
 

Historical events
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Anti-cult movement

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"Countercult" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Counterculture.
The anti-cult movement (abbreviated ACM and sometimes called the countercult movement) opposes any new religious movements (NRMs) they characterize as cults. Sociologists David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe initially defined the ACM in 1981 as a collection of groups embracing brainwashing-theory,[1] but later observed a significant shift in ideology towards a 'medicalization' of the memberships of new religious movements.[2] Some Christian organizations also oppose NRMs on theological grounds through church networks and printed literature.[3]


Contents  [hide]
1 The concept of an ACM 1.1 Religious and secular critics
1.2 Barker's five types of cult-watching groups
1.3 Hadden's taxonomy of the anti-cult movement
2 Cult-watching groups and individuals, and other opposition to cults 2.1 Family-members of adherents
2.2 Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists
2.3 Former members
2.4 Christian countercult movement
2.5 Governmental opposition
3 Anti-cult movement in Russia
4 Controversies 4.1 Polarized views among scholars
4.2 Brainwashing and mind-control
4.3 Deprogramming or exit-counseling
4.4 Responses of targeted groups and scholars
5 See also
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 Further reading

The concept of an ACM[edit]
The anti-cult movement is conceptualized as a collection of individuals and groups, whether formally organized or not, who oppose some new religious movements (or 'cults'). This countermovement has reportedly recruited from family members of 'cultists', former group members (or apostates), church groups (including Jewish groups)[4] and associations of health professionals.[5] Although there is a trend towards globalization,[6] the social and organizational bases vary significantly from country to country according to the social and political opportunity structures in each place.[7]
As with many subjects in the social sciences, the movement is variously defined. A significant minority opinion suggests that analysis should treat the secular anti-cult movement separately from the religiously motivated (mainly Christian) groups.[8][9]
The anti-cult movement might be divided into four classes:
secular counter-cult groups;
Christian evangelical counter-cult groups;
groups formed to counter a specific cult; and
organizations that offer some form of exit counseling.[10]
Most, if not all, the groups involved express the view that there are potentially deleterious effects associated with some new religious movements.[11]
Religious and secular critics[edit]
Commentators differentiate two main types of opposition to 'cults':
religious opposition (related to theological issues).
secular opposition (related to emotional, social, financial, and economic consequences of cultic involvement, where 'cult' can refer to a religious or to a secular group).
Barker's five types of cult-watching groups[edit]
According to sociologist Eileen Barker, cult-watching groups (CWGs) disseminate information about 'cults' with the intent of changing public and government perception as well as of changing public policy regarding NRMs.
Barker has identified five types of CWG:[12]
1.cult-awareness groups (CAGs) focusing on the harm done by 'destructive cults'
2.counter-cult groups (CCGs) focusing on the (heretical) teaching of non-mainstream groups
3.research-oriented groups (ROGs) focusing on beliefs, practices and comparisons
4.human-rights groups (HRGs) focusing on the human rights of religious minorities
5.cult-defender groups (CDGs) focusing on defending cults and exposing CAGs
Hadden's taxonomy of the anti-cult movement[edit]
Jeffrey K. Hadden sees four distinct classes in the organizational opposition to 'cults':[13]
1.Religiously grounded opposition Opposition usually defined in theological terms.
Cults viewed as engaging in heresy.
Sees its mission as exposing the heresy and correcting the beliefs of those who have strayed from a truth.
Prefers metaphors of deception rather than of possession.
Opposition serves two important functions: protects members (especially youth) from heresy, and
increases solidarity among the faithful.

2.Secular opposition Regards individual autonomy as the manifest goal — achieved by getting people out of groups using mind control and deceptive proselytization.
Identifies the struggle as about control, not as about theology.
Organized around families who have or have had children involved in a cult.
Has a latent goal of disabling or destroying NRMs organizationally.
3.Apostates Apostasy = the renunciation of a religious faith.
Apostate = one who engages in active opposition to their former faith.
The anti-cult movement has actively encouraged former members to interpret their experience in a 'cult' as one of being egregiously wronged and encourages participation in organized anti-cult activities.
4.Entrepreneurial opposition Individuals who take up a cause for personal gain
Ad hoc alliances or coalitions to promote shared views
Broadcasters and journalists as leading examples.
A few 'entrepreneurs' have made careers by setting up organized opposition.

Cult-watching groups and individuals, and other opposition to cults[edit]
Family-members of adherents[edit]
Some opposition to cults (and to some new religious movements) started with family-members of cult-adherents who had problems with the sudden changes in character, lifestyle and future plans of their young adult children who had joined NRMs. Ted Patrick, widely known as 'the father of deprogramming', exemplifies members of this group. The former Cult Awareness Network (old CAN) grew out of a grassroots-movement by parents of cult-members. The American Family Foundation (today the International Cultic Studies Association) originated from a father whose daughter had joined a high-control group.
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists[edit]
From the 1970s onwards some psychiatrists and clinical psychologists accused 'cults' of harming some of their members. These accusations were sometimes based on observations made during therapy, and sometimes were related to theories regarding brainwashing or mind-control.
Former members[edit]
See also: Apostasy in alleged cults and new religious movements
Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley and Joseph Ventimiglia coined the term atrocity tales in 1979,[14] which Bryan R. Wilson later took up in relation to former members' narratives. Bromley and Shupe defined an 'atrocity tale' as the symbolic presentation of action or events (real or imagined) in such a context that they come to flagrantly violate the (presumably) shared premises upon which a given set of social relationships should take place. The recounting of such tales has the intention of reaffirming normative boundaries. By sharing the reporter's disapproval or horror, an audience reasserts normative prescription and clearly locates the violator beyond the limits of public morality.[15][16]
Christian countercult movement[edit]
Main article: Christian countercult movement
In the 1940s, the long held opposition by some established Christian denominations to non-Christian religions or/and supposedly heretical, or counterfeit, Christian sects crystallized into a more organized 'Christian counter cult movement' in the United States. For those belonging to the movement, all religious groups claiming to be Christian, but deemed outside of Christian orthodoxy, were considered 'cults'.[17] Christian cults are new religious movements which have a Christian background but are considered to be theologically deviant by members of other Christian churches.[18] In his influential book The Kingdom of the Cults (first published in the United States in 1965) Christian scholar Walter Martin defines Christian cults as groups that follow the personal interpretation of an individual, rather than the understanding of the Bible accepted by mainstream Christianity. He mentions The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christian Science, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarian Universalism, and Unity as examples.[19]
The Christian countercult movement asserts that Christian sects whose beliefs are partially or wholly not in accordance with the Bible are erroneous. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a 'cult' if its beliefs involve a denial of what they view as any of the essential Christian teachings such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry of Jesus, the Miracles of Jesus, the Crucifixion of Jesus, the Death of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Rapture.[20][21][22]
Countercult literature usually expresses doctrinal or theological concerns and a missionary or apologetic purpose.[23] It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible against the beliefs of non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults.[24][25][26]
Governmental opposition[edit]
For more details see: Governmental lists of cults and sects
The secular opposition to cults and new religious movements operates internationally, though a number of sizeable and sometimes expanding groups originated in the United States. Some European countries, such as France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland have introduced legislation or taken other measures against cults or 'cultic deviations'.
In the Netherlands 'cults', sects, and new religious movements have the same legal rights as larger and more mainstream religious movements.[27] As of 2004, the Netherlands do not have an anti-cult movement of any significance.[28]
Anti-cult movement in Russia[edit]
In Russia “anticultism” appeared in early 1990s. Some Russian Protestant criticized foreign missionaries, sects and new religious movements. They perhaps hoped that taking part in anti-cult declarations could demonstrate that they were not "sectarians". Some religious studies have shown that anti-cult movements, especially with support of the government, can provoke serious religious conflicts in Russian society.[29] In 2008 the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared a list of "extremist groups". At the top of the list were Islamic groups outside of "traditional Islam", which is supervised by the Russian government. Next listed were "Pagan cults".[30] In 2009 the Russian Ministry of Justice created a council which it named the Council of Experts Conducting State Religious Studies Expert Analysis. The new council listed 80 large sects which it considered potentially dangerous to Russian society, and mentioned that there were thousands of smaller ones. Large sects listed included The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and what were called "neo-Pentecostals." [31]
Controversies[edit]
Polarized views among scholars[edit]
Social scientists, sociologists, religious scholars, psychologists and psychiatrists have studied the modern field of 'cults' and new religious movements since the early 1980s. Cult debates about certain purported cults and about cults in general often become polarized with widely divergent opinions, not only among current followers and disaffected former members, but sometimes among scholars as well.
All academics agree that some groups have become problematic and sometimes very problematic; but they disagree over the extent to which new religious movements in general cause harm.
Several scholars have questioned Hadden's attitude towards NRMs and cult critics as one-sided.[32]
Scholars in the field of new religious movements confront many controversial subjects:
The validity of the testimonies of former members.
The validity of the testimonies of current members.
The validity of and differences between exit counseling and coercive deprogramming.
The validity of evidence of harm caused by 'cults'.
Ethical concerns regarding new religious movements, for example: free will, freedom of speech.
Opposition to 'cults' vs. freedom of religion and religious intolerance.
The objectivity of all scholars studying new religious movements (see NRM apologists).
The acceptance or rejection of the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control report (Amitrani & di Marzio, 2000, Massimo Introvigne), see also scholarly positions on mind control.
Janet Jacobs expresses the range of views on the membership of the perceived ACM itself, ranging from those who comment on "the value of the Cult Awareness Network, the value of exit therapy for former members of new religious movements, and alternative modes of support for family members of individuals who have joined new religions" and extending to "a more critical perspective on [a perceived] wide range of ACM activities that threaten religious freedom and individual rights."[33]
Brainwashing and mind-control[edit]
Further information: Mind control
Over the years various theories of conversion and member retention have been proposed that link mind control to NRMs, and particularly those religious movements referred to as 'cults' by their critics. These theories resemble the original political brainwashing theories first developed by the American CIA as a propaganda device to combat communism,[34] with some minor changes. Philip Zimbardo discusses mind control as "...the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes",[35] and he suggests that any human being is susceptible to such manipulation.[36] In a 1999 book, Robert Lifton also applied his original ideas about thought reform to Aum Shinrikyo, concluding that in this context thought reform was possible without violence or physical coercion. Margaret Singer, who also spent time studying the political brainwashing of Korean prisoners of war, agreed with this conclusion: in her book Cults in Our Midst she describes six conditions which would create an atmosphere in which thought reform is possible.[37]
James T. Richardson observes that if the NRMs had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that NRMs would have high growth rates, yet in fact most have not had notable success in recruitment. Most adherents participate for only a short time, and the success in retaining members is limited.[38] For this and other reasons, sociologists of religion including David G. Bromley and Anson D. Shupe consider the idea that cults are brainwashing American youth to be "implausible."[39] In addition to Bromley, Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, Eileen Barker, Newton Maloney, Massimo Introvigne, John Hall, Lorne L. Dawson, Anson D. Shupe, J. Gordon Melton, Marc Galanter, Saul Levine of Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc, amongst other scholars researching NRMs, have argued and established to the satisfaction of courts, relevant professional associations and scientific communities that there exists no scientific theory, generally accepted and based upon methodologically sound research, that supports the brainwashing theories as advanced by the anti-cult movement.[40]
Deprogramming or exit-counseling[edit]
Further information: Deprogramming
Some members of the secular opposition to cults and to some new religious movements have argued that if brainwashing has deprived a person of their free will, treatment to restore their free will should take place — even if the 'victim' opposes this.
Precedents for this exist in the treatment of certain mental illnesses: in such cases medical and legal authorities recognize the condition(s) as depriving sufferers of their ability to make appropriate decisions for themselves. But the practice of forcing treatment on a presumed victim of 'brainwashing' (one definition of "deprogramming") has constantly proven controversial. Human-rights organizations (including the ACLU and Human Rights Watch) have also criticized deprogramming. While only a small fraction of the anti-cult movement has had involvement in deprogramming, several deprogrammers (including a deprogramming-pioneer, Ted Patrick) have served prison-terms for acts sometimes associated with deprogramming including kidnapping and rape, while courts have acquitted others.
Responses of targeted groups and scholars[edit]
The Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities, associated with the Adidam NRM, sees the use of terms 'cult' and 'cult leader' as detestable and as something to avoid at all costs. The Foundation regards such usage as the exercise of prejudice and discrimination against them in the same manner as the words 'nigger' and 'commie' served in the past to denigrate blacks and Communists.[41]
CESNUR’s president Massimo Introvigne, writes in his article "So many evil things: Anti-cult terrorism via the Internet",[42] that fringe and extreme anti-cult activists resort to tactics that may create a background favorable to extreme manifestations of discrimination and hate against individuals that belong to new religious movements. Professor Eileen Barker points out in an interview that the controversy surrounding certain new religious movements can turn violent by a process called deviancy amplification spiral.[43]
In a paper presented at the 2000 meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Anson Shupe and Susan Darnell argued that although the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA, formerly known as AFF or American Family Foundation) has presented "...slanted, stereotypical images and language that has inflamed persons to perform extreme actions," the extent to which one can classify the ICSA and other anti-cult organizations as 'hate-groups' (as defined by law in some jurisdictions or by racial/ethnic criteria in sociology) remains open to debate. In 2005, the Hate Crimes Unit of the Edmonton Police Service confiscated anti-Falun Gong materials distributed at the annual conference of the ICSA by staff members of the Calgary Chinese Consulate (Province of Alberta, Canada). The materials, including the calling of Falun Gong a 'cult', were identified as having breached the Criminal Code, which bans the wilful promotion of hatred against identifiable religious groups.[44] See also Verbal violence in hate groups.
An article on the categorization of new religious movements in US media published by The Association for the Sociology of Religion (formerly the American Catholic Sociological Society, criticizes the print media for failing to recognize social-scientific efforts in the area of new religious movements, and its tendency to use anti-cultist definitions rather than social-scientific insight, and asserts that The failure of the print media to recognize social-scientific efforts in the area of religious movement organizations (as our previous research [van Driel and Richardson, 1985] also shows) impels us to add yet another failing mark to the media report card Weiss (1985) has constructed to assess the media's reporting of the social sciences.[45]
See also[edit]
Cult apologist
Cult Awareness Network
Christian countercult movement
Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (1995)
Religious Persecution
International Cultic Studies Association
Persecution of Falun Gong
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Bromley, David G.; Anson Shupe (1981). Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare. Boston: Beacon Press.
2.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "," pp. 3-32 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, pp. 9-14.
3.Jump up ^ Anson, Shupe. "ANTI-CULT MOVEMENT". Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Feher, Shoshanah. 1994. "Maintaining the Faith: The Jewish Anti-Cult and Counter-Missionary Movement, pp. 33-48 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland.
5.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in North America," pp. 3-31 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. 3.
 Barker, Eileen. 1995 The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!", Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34 (3): 287-310, p. 297.
6.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "Introduction," pp. vii-xi in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. x.
7.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. and Barend von Driel. 1994 "New Religious Movements in Europe: Developments and Reactions," pp. 129-170 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. 137ff.
8.Jump up ^ Cowan, Douglas E. 2002. "Exits and Migrations: Foregrounding the Christian Counter-cult", Journal of Contemporary Religion 17 (3): 339-354.
9.Jump up ^ "Cult Group Controversies: Conceptualizing 'Anti-Cult' and 'Counter-Cult'"
10.Jump up ^ Chryssides, George D. 1999. Exploring New Religions. London & New York: Cassell, p. 345.
11.Jump up ^ Possamaï, Adam and Murray Lee. 2004. "New Religious Movements and the Fear of Crime," Journal of Contemporary Religion 19 (3): 337-352, p. 338.
12.Jump up ^ http://www.cesnur.org/2001/london2001/barker.htm
13.Jump up ^ Hadden, Jeffrey K., SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures: The Anti-Cult Movement, University of Virginia, Department of Sociology
14.Jump up ^ Bromley, David G., Shupe, Anson D., Ventimiglia, G.C.: "Atrocity Tales, the Unification Church, and the Social Construction of Evil", Journal of Communication, Summer 1979, p. 42-53.
15.Jump up ^ Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal) Les Témoigagnes de Convertis et d'ex-Adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, an article that appeared in the otherwise English-language book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg RENNER Studies in New religions Aarhus University press, ISBN 87-7288-748-6
16.Jump up ^ Shupe, A.D. and D.G. Bromley 1981 Apostates and Atrocity Stories: Some parameters in the Dynamics of Deprogramming In: B.R. Wilson (ed.) The Social Impact of New Religious Movements Barrytown NY: Rose of Sharon Press, 179-215
17.Jump up ^ Cowan, 2003
18.Jump up ^ J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (New York/London: Garland, 1986; revised edition, Garland, 1992). page 5
19.Jump up ^ Walter Ralston Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, Bethany House, 2003, ISBN 0764228218 page 18
20.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, rev.ed. Santa Ana: Vision House, 1978, pp. 11-12.
21.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions,Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997, p. 33.
22.Jump up ^ H. Wayne House & Gordon Carle, Doctrine Twisting: How Core Biblical Truths are Distorted, Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.
23.Jump up ^ Garry W. Trompf,"Missiology, Methodology and the Study of New Religious Movements," Religious Traditions Volume 10, 1987, pp. 95-106.
24.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev.ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003, pp.479-493.
25.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. Evangelising the Cults, Milton Keynes: Word, 1990.
26.Jump up ^ Norman L Geisler & Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997.
27.Jump up ^ Singelenberg, Richard Foredoomed to Failure: the Anti-Cult Movement in the Netherlands in Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe, redacted by James T. Richardson, Springer, 2004, ISBN 0-306-47887-0, ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1, pages 214-215
28.Jump up ^ Singelenberg, Richard Foredoomed to Failure: the Anti-Cult Movement in the Netherlands in Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe, redacted by James T. Richardson, Springer, 2004, ISBN 0-306-47887-0, ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1, page 213
29.Jump up ^ Сергей Иваненко (2009-08-17). О религиоведческих аспектах "антикультового движения" (in Russian). Retrieved 2009-12-04.
30.Jump up ^ The new nobility : the restoration of Russia's security state and the enduring legacy of the KGB, Author: Andreĭ Soldatov; I Borogan, Publisher: New York, NY : PublicAffairs, ©2010. pages 65-66
31.Jump up ^ Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians (Google eBook), Paul Marshall, 2013, Thomas Nelson Inc
32.Jump up ^ Robbins and Zablocki 2001, Beit-Hallahmi 2001, Kent and Krebs 1998.
33.Jump up ^ Janet L Jacobs: Review of Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley: Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland in Sociology of religion, Winter 1996. Online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_n4_v57/ai_19178617/pg_2. Retrieved 2007-09-17
34.Jump up ^ Dick, Anthony (1999). "Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall". Social Justice Research 12 (4).
35.Jump up ^ Zimbardo, Philip G. (November 2002). "Mind Control: Psychological Reality or Mindless Rhetoric?". Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved 2008-12-30. "Mind control is the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes. It is neither magical nor mystical, but a process that involves a set of basic social psychological principles. Conformity, compliance, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, guilt and fear arousal, modeling and identification are some of the staple social influence ingredients well studied in psychological experiments and field studies. In some combinations, they create a powerful crucible of extreme mental and behavioral manipulation when synthesized with several other real-world factors, such as charismatic, authoritarian leaders, dominant ideologies, social isolation, physical debilitation, induced phobias, and extreme threats or promised rewards that are typically deceptively orchestrated, over an extended time period in settings where they are applied intensively. A body of social science evidence shows that when systematically practiced by state-sanctioned police, military or destructive cults, mind control can induce false confessions, create converts who willingly torture or kill 'invented enemies,' and engage indoctrinated members to work tirelessly, give up their money—and even their lives—for 'the cause.'"
36.Jump up ^ Zimbardo, P (1997). "What messages are behind today's cults?". Monitor on Psychology: 14.
37.Jump up ^ Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, Margaret Thaler Singer, Jossey-Bass, publisher, April 2003, ISBN 0-7879-6741-6
38.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. (June 1985). "The active vs. passive convert: paradigm conflict in conversion/recruitment research". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 24, No. 2) 24 (2): 163–179. doi:10.2307/1386340. JSTOR 1386340.
39.Jump up ^ Brainwashing by Religious Cults
40.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. 2009. "Religion and The Law" in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Peter Clarke. (ed) Oxford Handbooks Online. p. 426
41.Jump up ^ The Foundation Against Intolerance of Minority Religions
42.Jump up ^ CESNUR - "So Many Evil Things": Anti-Cult Terrorism via the Internet
43.Jump up ^ Interview with Eileen Barker, Introducing New Religious Movements Available online (Retrieved 2007-10-17 'What can be observed in most of these tragedies is a process which sociologists sometimes call "deviance amplification" building up. The antagonists on each side behave rather badly, and that gives permission for the other side to behave more badly, so you get this spiral and increasing polarisation with each side saying: "Look what they did."')
44.Jump up ^ Edmonton Police Report of Wilful Promotion of Hatred by Chinese Consular Officials against Falun Gong, Appendix 8 to "Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China," By David Matas, Esq. and Hon. David Kilgour, Esq.
45.Jump up ^ van Driel, Barend and James T. Richardson. Research Note Categorization of New Religious Movements in American Print Media. Sociological Analysis 1988, 49, 2:171-183
References[edit]
Amitrani, Alberto and di Marzio, Raffaella: "Mind Control" in New Religious Movements and the American Psychological Association, Cultic Studies Journal Vol 17, 2000.
Beckford, James A., Cult Controversies: The Societal Response to New Religious Movements, London, Tavistock, 1985, p. 235
Bromley, David G. & Anson Shupe, Public Reaction against New Religious Movements article that appeared in Cults and new religious movements: a report of the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association, edited by Marc Galanter, M.D., (1989) ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Langone, Michael: Cults, Psychological Manipulation, and Society: International Perspectives - An Overview [1]
Langone, Michael: Secular and Religious Critiques of Cults: Complementary Visions, Not Irresolvable Conflicts, Cultic Studies Journal, 1995, Volume 12, Number 2 [2]
Langone, Michael, On Dialogue Between the Two Tribes of Cultic Researchers Cultic Studies Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 1, 1983, pp. 11–15 [3]
Robbins, Thomas. (2000). “Quo Vadis” the Scientific Study of New Religious Movements? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39(4), 515-523.
Thomas Robbin and Dick Anthony, Cults in the late Twentieth Century in Lippy, Charles H. and Williams, Peter W. (edfs.) Encyclopedia of the American Religious experience. Studies of Traditions and Movements. Charles Scribner's sons, New York (1988) Vol II pp. ISBN 0-684-18861-9
Victor, J. S. (1993). Satanic panic: The creation of a contemporary legend. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. In J. T. Richardson, J. Best, & D. G. Bromley (Eds.), The satanism scare (pp. 263–275). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Wilson, Brian R., Apostates and New Religious Movements, Oxford, England 1994
Robbins, Thomas and Zablocki, Benjamin, Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
Further reading[edit]
Anthony, D. Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall. Social Justice Research, Kluwer Academic Publishers, December 1999, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 421–456(36)
Bromley, David G. & Anson Shupe Public Reaction against New Religious Movements article that appeared in Cults and new religious movements: a report of the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association, edited by Marc Galanter, M.D., (1989) ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Introvigne, Massimo, Fighting the three Cs: Cults, Comics, and Communists – The Critic of Popular Culture as Origin of Contemporary Anti-Cultism, CESNUR 2003 conference, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2003 [4]
Introvigne, Massimo The Secular Anti-Cult and the Religious Counter-Cult Movement: Strange Bedfellows or Future Enemies?, in Eric Towler (Ed.), New Religions and the New Europe, Aarhus University Press, 1995, pp. 32–54.
Thomas Robbins and Benjamin Zablocki, Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for objectivity in a controversial field, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
AD Shupe Jr, DG Bromley, DL Olive, The Anti-Cult Movement in America: A Bibliography and Historical Survey, New York: Garland 1984.
Langone, Michael D. Ph.D., (Ed.), Recovery from cults: help for victims of psychological and spiritual abuse (1993), a publication of the American Family Foundation, W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-31321-2


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Opposition to new religious movements


Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
 Cult Awareness Network ·
 International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
 The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
 Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
 Cult Information Centre
 

Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
 Steven Hassan ·
 Galen Kelly ·
 Michael Langone ·
 Ted Patrick ·
 Rick Ross ·
 Tom Sackville ·
 Jim Siegelman ·
 Margaret Singer ·
 Louis Jolyon West ·
 Cyril Vosper ·
 Lawrence Wollersheim
 

Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
 Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
 Christian Research Institute ·
 Dialog Center International ·
 Personal Freedom Outreach ·
 Watchman Fellowship ·
 New England Institute of Religious Research ·
 Midwest Christian Outreach ·
 Institute for Religious Research ·
 Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
 Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
 

Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
 Alexander Dvorkin ·
 Ronald Enroth ·
 Hank Hanegraaff ·
 Paul R. Martin ·
 Walter Ralston Martin ·
 Robert Passantino
 

Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
 Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
 Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
 MIVILUDES ·
 Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
 

Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
 

Concepts
Cult ·
 NRM apologist ·
 Deprogramming ·
 Freedom of religion ·
 Heresy ·
 Mind control ·
 New religious movement
 

Historical events
About-Picard law ·
 Governmental lists of cults and sects ·
 Persecution of Bahá'ís ·
 Persecution of Falun Gong ·
 Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses ·
 Anti-Mormonism ·
 Scientology in Germany
 

  


Categories: Anti-cult movement
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Anti-cult terms and concepts
Religious activism
Social movements
Religious persecution
Religious discrimination
Witch hunting
Cults







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Anti-cult movement

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"Countercult" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Counterculture.
The anti-cult movement (abbreviated ACM and sometimes called the countercult movement) opposes any new religious movements (NRMs) they characterize as cults. Sociologists David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe initially defined the ACM in 1981 as a collection of groups embracing brainwashing-theory,[1] but later observed a significant shift in ideology towards a 'medicalization' of the memberships of new religious movements.[2] Some Christian organizations also oppose NRMs on theological grounds through church networks and printed literature.[3]


Contents  [hide]
1 The concept of an ACM 1.1 Religious and secular critics
1.2 Barker's five types of cult-watching groups
1.3 Hadden's taxonomy of the anti-cult movement
2 Cult-watching groups and individuals, and other opposition to cults 2.1 Family-members of adherents
2.2 Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists
2.3 Former members
2.4 Christian countercult movement
2.5 Governmental opposition
3 Anti-cult movement in Russia
4 Controversies 4.1 Polarized views among scholars
4.2 Brainwashing and mind-control
4.3 Deprogramming or exit-counseling
4.4 Responses of targeted groups and scholars
5 See also
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 Further reading

The concept of an ACM[edit]
The anti-cult movement is conceptualized as a collection of individuals and groups, whether formally organized or not, who oppose some new religious movements (or 'cults'). This countermovement has reportedly recruited from family members of 'cultists', former group members (or apostates), church groups (including Jewish groups)[4] and associations of health professionals.[5] Although there is a trend towards globalization,[6] the social and organizational bases vary significantly from country to country according to the social and political opportunity structures in each place.[7]
As with many subjects in the social sciences, the movement is variously defined. A significant minority opinion suggests that analysis should treat the secular anti-cult movement separately from the religiously motivated (mainly Christian) groups.[8][9]
The anti-cult movement might be divided into four classes:
secular counter-cult groups;
Christian evangelical counter-cult groups;
groups formed to counter a specific cult; and
organizations that offer some form of exit counseling.[10]
Most, if not all, the groups involved express the view that there are potentially deleterious effects associated with some new religious movements.[11]
Religious and secular critics[edit]
Commentators differentiate two main types of opposition to 'cults':
religious opposition (related to theological issues).
secular opposition (related to emotional, social, financial, and economic consequences of cultic involvement, where 'cult' can refer to a religious or to a secular group).
Barker's five types of cult-watching groups[edit]
According to sociologist Eileen Barker, cult-watching groups (CWGs) disseminate information about 'cults' with the intent of changing public and government perception as well as of changing public policy regarding NRMs.
Barker has identified five types of CWG:[12]
1.cult-awareness groups (CAGs) focusing on the harm done by 'destructive cults'
2.counter-cult groups (CCGs) focusing on the (heretical) teaching of non-mainstream groups
3.research-oriented groups (ROGs) focusing on beliefs, practices and comparisons
4.human-rights groups (HRGs) focusing on the human rights of religious minorities
5.cult-defender groups (CDGs) focusing on defending cults and exposing CAGs
Hadden's taxonomy of the anti-cult movement[edit]
Jeffrey K. Hadden sees four distinct classes in the organizational opposition to 'cults':[13]
1.Religiously grounded opposition Opposition usually defined in theological terms.
Cults viewed as engaging in heresy.
Sees its mission as exposing the heresy and correcting the beliefs of those who have strayed from a truth.
Prefers metaphors of deception rather than of possession.
Opposition serves two important functions: protects members (especially youth) from heresy, and
increases solidarity among the faithful.

2.Secular opposition Regards individual autonomy as the manifest goal — achieved by getting people out of groups using mind control and deceptive proselytization.
Identifies the struggle as about control, not as about theology.
Organized around families who have or have had children involved in a cult.
Has a latent goal of disabling or destroying NRMs organizationally.
3.Apostates Apostasy = the renunciation of a religious faith.
Apostate = one who engages in active opposition to their former faith.
The anti-cult movement has actively encouraged former members to interpret their experience in a 'cult' as one of being egregiously wronged and encourages participation in organized anti-cult activities.
4.Entrepreneurial opposition Individuals who take up a cause for personal gain
Ad hoc alliances or coalitions to promote shared views
Broadcasters and journalists as leading examples.
A few 'entrepreneurs' have made careers by setting up organized opposition.

Cult-watching groups and individuals, and other opposition to cults[edit]
Family-members of adherents[edit]
Some opposition to cults (and to some new religious movements) started with family-members of cult-adherents who had problems with the sudden changes in character, lifestyle and future plans of their young adult children who had joined NRMs. Ted Patrick, widely known as 'the father of deprogramming', exemplifies members of this group. The former Cult Awareness Network (old CAN) grew out of a grassroots-movement by parents of cult-members. The American Family Foundation (today the International Cultic Studies Association) originated from a father whose daughter had joined a high-control group.
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists[edit]
From the 1970s onwards some psychiatrists and clinical psychologists accused 'cults' of harming some of their members. These accusations were sometimes based on observations made during therapy, and sometimes were related to theories regarding brainwashing or mind-control.
Former members[edit]
See also: Apostasy in alleged cults and new religious movements
Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley and Joseph Ventimiglia coined the term atrocity tales in 1979,[14] which Bryan R. Wilson later took up in relation to former members' narratives. Bromley and Shupe defined an 'atrocity tale' as the symbolic presentation of action or events (real or imagined) in such a context that they come to flagrantly violate the (presumably) shared premises upon which a given set of social relationships should take place. The recounting of such tales has the intention of reaffirming normative boundaries. By sharing the reporter's disapproval or horror, an audience reasserts normative prescription and clearly locates the violator beyond the limits of public morality.[15][16]
Christian countercult movement[edit]
Main article: Christian countercult movement
In the 1940s, the long held opposition by some established Christian denominations to non-Christian religions or/and supposedly heretical, or counterfeit, Christian sects crystallized into a more organized 'Christian counter cult movement' in the United States. For those belonging to the movement, all religious groups claiming to be Christian, but deemed outside of Christian orthodoxy, were considered 'cults'.[17] Christian cults are new religious movements which have a Christian background but are considered to be theologically deviant by members of other Christian churches.[18] In his influential book The Kingdom of the Cults (first published in the United States in 1965) Christian scholar Walter Martin defines Christian cults as groups that follow the personal interpretation of an individual, rather than the understanding of the Bible accepted by mainstream Christianity. He mentions The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christian Science, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarian Universalism, and Unity as examples.[19]
The Christian countercult movement asserts that Christian sects whose beliefs are partially or wholly not in accordance with the Bible are erroneous. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a 'cult' if its beliefs involve a denial of what they view as any of the essential Christian teachings such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry of Jesus, the Miracles of Jesus, the Crucifixion of Jesus, the Death of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Rapture.[20][21][22]
Countercult literature usually expresses doctrinal or theological concerns and a missionary or apologetic purpose.[23] It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible against the beliefs of non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults.[24][25][26]
Governmental opposition[edit]
For more details see: Governmental lists of cults and sects
The secular opposition to cults and new religious movements operates internationally, though a number of sizeable and sometimes expanding groups originated in the United States. Some European countries, such as France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland have introduced legislation or taken other measures against cults or 'cultic deviations'.
In the Netherlands 'cults', sects, and new religious movements have the same legal rights as larger and more mainstream religious movements.[27] As of 2004, the Netherlands do not have an anti-cult movement of any significance.[28]
Anti-cult movement in Russia[edit]
In Russia “anticultism” appeared in early 1990s. Some Russian Protestant criticized foreign missionaries, sects and new religious movements. They perhaps hoped that taking part in anti-cult declarations could demonstrate that they were not "sectarians". Some religious studies have shown that anti-cult movements, especially with support of the government, can provoke serious religious conflicts in Russian society.[29] In 2008 the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared a list of "extremist groups". At the top of the list were Islamic groups outside of "traditional Islam", which is supervised by the Russian government. Next listed were "Pagan cults".[30] In 2009 the Russian Ministry of Justice created a council which it named the Council of Experts Conducting State Religious Studies Expert Analysis. The new council listed 80 large sects which it considered potentially dangerous to Russian society, and mentioned that there were thousands of smaller ones. Large sects listed included The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and what were called "neo-Pentecostals." [31]
Controversies[edit]
Polarized views among scholars[edit]
Social scientists, sociologists, religious scholars, psychologists and psychiatrists have studied the modern field of 'cults' and new religious movements since the early 1980s. Cult debates about certain purported cults and about cults in general often become polarized with widely divergent opinions, not only among current followers and disaffected former members, but sometimes among scholars as well.
All academics agree that some groups have become problematic and sometimes very problematic; but they disagree over the extent to which new religious movements in general cause harm.
Several scholars have questioned Hadden's attitude towards NRMs and cult critics as one-sided.[32]
Scholars in the field of new religious movements confront many controversial subjects:
The validity of the testimonies of former members.
The validity of the testimonies of current members.
The validity of and differences between exit counseling and coercive deprogramming.
The validity of evidence of harm caused by 'cults'.
Ethical concerns regarding new religious movements, for example: free will, freedom of speech.
Opposition to 'cults' vs. freedom of religion and religious intolerance.
The objectivity of all scholars studying new religious movements (see NRM apologists).
The acceptance or rejection of the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control report (Amitrani & di Marzio, 2000, Massimo Introvigne), see also scholarly positions on mind control.
Janet Jacobs expresses the range of views on the membership of the perceived ACM itself, ranging from those who comment on "the value of the Cult Awareness Network, the value of exit therapy for former members of new religious movements, and alternative modes of support for family members of individuals who have joined new religions" and extending to "a more critical perspective on [a perceived] wide range of ACM activities that threaten religious freedom and individual rights."[33]
Brainwashing and mind-control[edit]
Further information: Mind control
Over the years various theories of conversion and member retention have been proposed that link mind control to NRMs, and particularly those religious movements referred to as 'cults' by their critics. These theories resemble the original political brainwashing theories first developed by the American CIA as a propaganda device to combat communism,[34] with some minor changes. Philip Zimbardo discusses mind control as "...the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes",[35] and he suggests that any human being is susceptible to such manipulation.[36] In a 1999 book, Robert Lifton also applied his original ideas about thought reform to Aum Shinrikyo, concluding that in this context thought reform was possible without violence or physical coercion. Margaret Singer, who also spent time studying the political brainwashing of Korean prisoners of war, agreed with this conclusion: in her book Cults in Our Midst she describes six conditions which would create an atmosphere in which thought reform is possible.[37]
James T. Richardson observes that if the NRMs had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that NRMs would have high growth rates, yet in fact most have not had notable success in recruitment. Most adherents participate for only a short time, and the success in retaining members is limited.[38] For this and other reasons, sociologists of religion including David G. Bromley and Anson D. Shupe consider the idea that cults are brainwashing American youth to be "implausible."[39] In addition to Bromley, Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, Eileen Barker, Newton Maloney, Massimo Introvigne, John Hall, Lorne L. Dawson, Anson D. Shupe, J. Gordon Melton, Marc Galanter, Saul Levine of Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc, amongst other scholars researching NRMs, have argued and established to the satisfaction of courts, relevant professional associations and scientific communities that there exists no scientific theory, generally accepted and based upon methodologically sound research, that supports the brainwashing theories as advanced by the anti-cult movement.[40]
Deprogramming or exit-counseling[edit]
Further information: Deprogramming
Some members of the secular opposition to cults and to some new religious movements have argued that if brainwashing has deprived a person of their free will, treatment to restore their free will should take place — even if the 'victim' opposes this.
Precedents for this exist in the treatment of certain mental illnesses: in such cases medical and legal authorities recognize the condition(s) as depriving sufferers of their ability to make appropriate decisions for themselves. But the practice of forcing treatment on a presumed victim of 'brainwashing' (one definition of "deprogramming") has constantly proven controversial. Human-rights organizations (including the ACLU and Human Rights Watch) have also criticized deprogramming. While only a small fraction of the anti-cult movement has had involvement in deprogramming, several deprogrammers (including a deprogramming-pioneer, Ted Patrick) have served prison-terms for acts sometimes associated with deprogramming including kidnapping and rape, while courts have acquitted others.
Responses of targeted groups and scholars[edit]
The Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities, associated with the Adidam NRM, sees the use of terms 'cult' and 'cult leader' as detestable and as something to avoid at all costs. The Foundation regards such usage as the exercise of prejudice and discrimination against them in the same manner as the words 'nigger' and 'commie' served in the past to denigrate blacks and Communists.[41]
CESNUR’s president Massimo Introvigne, writes in his article "So many evil things: Anti-cult terrorism via the Internet",[42] that fringe and extreme anti-cult activists resort to tactics that may create a background favorable to extreme manifestations of discrimination and hate against individuals that belong to new religious movements. Professor Eileen Barker points out in an interview that the controversy surrounding certain new religious movements can turn violent by a process called deviancy amplification spiral.[43]
In a paper presented at the 2000 meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Anson Shupe and Susan Darnell argued that although the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA, formerly known as AFF or American Family Foundation) has presented "...slanted, stereotypical images and language that has inflamed persons to perform extreme actions," the extent to which one can classify the ICSA and other anti-cult organizations as 'hate-groups' (as defined by law in some jurisdictions or by racial/ethnic criteria in sociology) remains open to debate. In 2005, the Hate Crimes Unit of the Edmonton Police Service confiscated anti-Falun Gong materials distributed at the annual conference of the ICSA by staff members of the Calgary Chinese Consulate (Province of Alberta, Canada). The materials, including the calling of Falun Gong a 'cult', were identified as having breached the Criminal Code, which bans the wilful promotion of hatred against identifiable religious groups.[44] See also Verbal violence in hate groups.
An article on the categorization of new religious movements in US media published by The Association for the Sociology of Religion (formerly the American Catholic Sociological Society, criticizes the print media for failing to recognize social-scientific efforts in the area of new religious movements, and its tendency to use anti-cultist definitions rather than social-scientific insight, and asserts that The failure of the print media to recognize social-scientific efforts in the area of religious movement organizations (as our previous research [van Driel and Richardson, 1985] also shows) impels us to add yet another failing mark to the media report card Weiss (1985) has constructed to assess the media's reporting of the social sciences.[45]
See also[edit]
Cult apologist
Cult Awareness Network
Christian countercult movement
Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (1995)
Religious Persecution
International Cultic Studies Association
Persecution of Falun Gong
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Bromley, David G.; Anson Shupe (1981). Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare. Boston: Beacon Press.
2.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "," pp. 3-32 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, pp. 9-14.
3.Jump up ^ Anson, Shupe. "ANTI-CULT MOVEMENT". Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Feher, Shoshanah. 1994. "Maintaining the Faith: The Jewish Anti-Cult and Counter-Missionary Movement, pp. 33-48 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland.
5.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in North America," pp. 3-31 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. 3.
 Barker, Eileen. 1995 The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!", Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34 (3): 287-310, p. 297.
6.Jump up ^ Shupe, Anson and David G. Bromley. 1994. "Introduction," pp. vii-xi in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. x.
7.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. and Barend von Driel. 1994 "New Religious Movements in Europe: Developments and Reactions," pp. 129-170 in Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland, p. 137ff.
8.Jump up ^ Cowan, Douglas E. 2002. "Exits and Migrations: Foregrounding the Christian Counter-cult", Journal of Contemporary Religion 17 (3): 339-354.
9.Jump up ^ "Cult Group Controversies: Conceptualizing 'Anti-Cult' and 'Counter-Cult'"
10.Jump up ^ Chryssides, George D. 1999. Exploring New Religions. London & New York: Cassell, p. 345.
11.Jump up ^ Possamaï, Adam and Murray Lee. 2004. "New Religious Movements and the Fear of Crime," Journal of Contemporary Religion 19 (3): 337-352, p. 338.
12.Jump up ^ http://www.cesnur.org/2001/london2001/barker.htm
13.Jump up ^ Hadden, Jeffrey K., SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures: The Anti-Cult Movement, University of Virginia, Department of Sociology
14.Jump up ^ Bromley, David G., Shupe, Anson D., Ventimiglia, G.C.: "Atrocity Tales, the Unification Church, and the Social Construction of Evil", Journal of Communication, Summer 1979, p. 42-53.
15.Jump up ^ Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal) Les Témoigagnes de Convertis et d'ex-Adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, an article that appeared in the otherwise English-language book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg RENNER Studies in New religions Aarhus University press, ISBN 87-7288-748-6
16.Jump up ^ Shupe, A.D. and D.G. Bromley 1981 Apostates and Atrocity Stories: Some parameters in the Dynamics of Deprogramming In: B.R. Wilson (ed.) The Social Impact of New Religious Movements Barrytown NY: Rose of Sharon Press, 179-215
17.Jump up ^ Cowan, 2003
18.Jump up ^ J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (New York/London: Garland, 1986; revised edition, Garland, 1992). page 5
19.Jump up ^ Walter Ralston Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, Bethany House, 2003, ISBN 0764228218 page 18
20.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, rev.ed. Santa Ana: Vision House, 1978, pp. 11-12.
21.Jump up ^ Richard Abanes, Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions,Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997, p. 33.
22.Jump up ^ H. Wayne House & Gordon Carle, Doctrine Twisting: How Core Biblical Truths are Distorted, Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.
23.Jump up ^ Garry W. Trompf,"Missiology, Methodology and the Study of New Religious Movements," Religious Traditions Volume 10, 1987, pp. 95-106.
24.Jump up ^ Walter R. Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, rev.ed. Ravi Zacharias ed. Bloomington: Bethany House, 2003, pp.479-493.
25.Jump up ^ Ronald Enroth ed. Evangelising the Cults, Milton Keynes: Word, 1990.
26.Jump up ^ Norman L Geisler & Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997.
27.Jump up ^ Singelenberg, Richard Foredoomed to Failure: the Anti-Cult Movement in the Netherlands in Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe, redacted by James T. Richardson, Springer, 2004, ISBN 0-306-47887-0, ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1, pages 214-215
28.Jump up ^ Singelenberg, Richard Foredoomed to Failure: the Anti-Cult Movement in the Netherlands in Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe, redacted by James T. Richardson, Springer, 2004, ISBN 0-306-47887-0, ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1, page 213
29.Jump up ^ Сергей Иваненко (2009-08-17). О религиоведческих аспектах "антикультового движения" (in Russian). Retrieved 2009-12-04.
30.Jump up ^ The new nobility : the restoration of Russia's security state and the enduring legacy of the KGB, Author: Andreĭ Soldatov; I Borogan, Publisher: New York, NY : PublicAffairs, ©2010. pages 65-66
31.Jump up ^ Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians (Google eBook), Paul Marshall, 2013, Thomas Nelson Inc
32.Jump up ^ Robbins and Zablocki 2001, Beit-Hallahmi 2001, Kent and Krebs 1998.
33.Jump up ^ Janet L Jacobs: Review of Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley: Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York, NY: Garland in Sociology of religion, Winter 1996. Online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_n4_v57/ai_19178617/pg_2. Retrieved 2007-09-17
34.Jump up ^ Dick, Anthony (1999). "Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall". Social Justice Research 12 (4).
35.Jump up ^ Zimbardo, Philip G. (November 2002). "Mind Control: Psychological Reality or Mindless Rhetoric?". Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved 2008-12-30. "Mind control is the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes. It is neither magical nor mystical, but a process that involves a set of basic social psychological principles. Conformity, compliance, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, guilt and fear arousal, modeling and identification are some of the staple social influence ingredients well studied in psychological experiments and field studies. In some combinations, they create a powerful crucible of extreme mental and behavioral manipulation when synthesized with several other real-world factors, such as charismatic, authoritarian leaders, dominant ideologies, social isolation, physical debilitation, induced phobias, and extreme threats or promised rewards that are typically deceptively orchestrated, over an extended time period in settings where they are applied intensively. A body of social science evidence shows that when systematically practiced by state-sanctioned police, military or destructive cults, mind control can induce false confessions, create converts who willingly torture or kill 'invented enemies,' and engage indoctrinated members to work tirelessly, give up their money—and even their lives—for 'the cause.'"
36.Jump up ^ Zimbardo, P (1997). "What messages are behind today's cults?". Monitor on Psychology: 14.
37.Jump up ^ Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, Margaret Thaler Singer, Jossey-Bass, publisher, April 2003, ISBN 0-7879-6741-6
38.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. (June 1985). "The active vs. passive convert: paradigm conflict in conversion/recruitment research". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 24, No. 2) 24 (2): 163–179. doi:10.2307/1386340. JSTOR 1386340.
39.Jump up ^ Brainwashing by Religious Cults
40.Jump up ^ Richardson, James T. 2009. "Religion and The Law" in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Peter Clarke. (ed) Oxford Handbooks Online. p. 426
41.Jump up ^ The Foundation Against Intolerance of Minority Religions
42.Jump up ^ CESNUR - "So Many Evil Things": Anti-Cult Terrorism via the Internet
43.Jump up ^ Interview with Eileen Barker, Introducing New Religious Movements Available online (Retrieved 2007-10-17 'What can be observed in most of these tragedies is a process which sociologists sometimes call "deviance amplification" building up. The antagonists on each side behave rather badly, and that gives permission for the other side to behave more badly, so you get this spiral and increasing polarisation with each side saying: "Look what they did."')
44.Jump up ^ Edmonton Police Report of Wilful Promotion of Hatred by Chinese Consular Officials against Falun Gong, Appendix 8 to "Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China," By David Matas, Esq. and Hon. David Kilgour, Esq.
45.Jump up ^ van Driel, Barend and James T. Richardson. Research Note Categorization of New Religious Movements in American Print Media. Sociological Analysis 1988, 49, 2:171-183
References[edit]
Amitrani, Alberto and di Marzio, Raffaella: "Mind Control" in New Religious Movements and the American Psychological Association, Cultic Studies Journal Vol 17, 2000.
Beckford, James A., Cult Controversies: The Societal Response to New Religious Movements, London, Tavistock, 1985, p. 235
Bromley, David G. & Anson Shupe, Public Reaction against New Religious Movements article that appeared in Cults and new religious movements: a report of the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association, edited by Marc Galanter, M.D., (1989) ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Langone, Michael: Cults, Psychological Manipulation, and Society: International Perspectives - An Overview [1]
Langone, Michael: Secular and Religious Critiques of Cults: Complementary Visions, Not Irresolvable Conflicts, Cultic Studies Journal, 1995, Volume 12, Number 2 [2]
Langone, Michael, On Dialogue Between the Two Tribes of Cultic Researchers Cultic Studies Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 1, 1983, pp. 11–15 [3]
Robbins, Thomas. (2000). “Quo Vadis” the Scientific Study of New Religious Movements? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39(4), 515-523.
Thomas Robbin and Dick Anthony, Cults in the late Twentieth Century in Lippy, Charles H. and Williams, Peter W. (edfs.) Encyclopedia of the American Religious experience. Studies of Traditions and Movements. Charles Scribner's sons, New York (1988) Vol II pp. ISBN 0-684-18861-9
Victor, J. S. (1993). Satanic panic: The creation of a contemporary legend. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. In J. T. Richardson, J. Best, & D. G. Bromley (Eds.), The satanism scare (pp. 263–275). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Wilson, Brian R., Apostates and New Religious Movements, Oxford, England 1994
Robbins, Thomas and Zablocki, Benjamin, Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
Further reading[edit]
Anthony, D. Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall. Social Justice Research, Kluwer Academic Publishers, December 1999, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 421–456(36)
Bromley, David G. & Anson Shupe Public Reaction against New Religious Movements article that appeared in Cults and new religious movements: a report of the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association, edited by Marc Galanter, M.D., (1989) ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Introvigne, Massimo, Fighting the three Cs: Cults, Comics, and Communists – The Critic of Popular Culture as Origin of Contemporary Anti-Cultism, CESNUR 2003 conference, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2003 [4]
Introvigne, Massimo The Secular Anti-Cult and the Religious Counter-Cult Movement: Strange Bedfellows or Future Enemies?, in Eric Towler (Ed.), New Religions and the New Europe, Aarhus University Press, 1995, pp. 32–54.
Thomas Robbins and Benjamin Zablocki, Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for objectivity in a controversial field, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
AD Shupe Jr, DG Bromley, DL Olive, The Anti-Cult Movement in America: A Bibliography and Historical Survey, New York: Garland 1984.
Langone, Michael D. Ph.D., (Ed.), Recovery from cults: help for victims of psychological and spiritual abuse (1993), a publication of the American Family Foundation, W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-31321-2


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Opposition to new religious movements


Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
 Cult Awareness Network ·
 International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
 The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
 Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
 Cult Information Centre
 

Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
 Steven Hassan ·
 Galen Kelly ·
 Michael Langone ·
 Ted Patrick ·
 Rick Ross ·
 Tom Sackville ·
 Jim Siegelman ·
 Margaret Singer ·
 Louis Jolyon West ·
 Cyril Vosper ·
 Lawrence Wollersheim
 

Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
 Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
 Christian Research Institute ·
 Dialog Center International ·
 Personal Freedom Outreach ·
 Watchman Fellowship ·
 New England Institute of Religious Research ·
 Midwest Christian Outreach ·
 Institute for Religious Research ·
 Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
 Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
 

Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
 Alexander Dvorkin ·
 Ronald Enroth ·
 Hank Hanegraaff ·
 Paul R. Martin ·
 Walter Ralston Martin ·
 Robert Passantino
 

Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
 Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
 Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
 MIVILUDES ·
 Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
 

Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
 

Concepts
Cult ·
 NRM apologist ·
 Deprogramming ·
 Freedom of religion ·
 Heresy ·
 Mind control ·
 New religious movement
 

Historical events
About-Picard law ·
 Governmental lists of cults and sects ·
 Persecution of Bahá'ís ·
 Persecution of Falun Gong ·
 Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses ·
 Anti-Mormonism ·
 Scientology in Germany
 

  


Categories: Anti-cult movement
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Anti-cult terms and concepts
Religious activism
Social movements
Religious persecution
Religious discrimination
Witch hunting
Cults







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