CULTSCULTS

““Brainwashing,” Mind Brainwashing,” Mind Control, Cult Conversion, Control, Cult Conversion, and Deprogrammingand Deprogramming

Modern day cults: a brief chronology

1978: Reverend Jim Jones and 900 followers, including children, commit suicide in Jonestown Guyana by drinking cyanide-laced punch.

1991: a Mexican minister and 29 followers suffocate after he

instructs them to keep praying and ignore toxic fumes filling the

church.

1993: At least 80 Branch Davidians, followers of David

Coresh, perish in a fire and shoot-out with the BATF at their compound in Waco, Texas.

1993: 53 Vietnamese tribal villagers commit suicide with

primitive weapons, led by blind man Ca Van Liem, in the belief they will go straight to heaven.

1994: 67 members of the “Order of the Solar Temple,” under the control of Joseph Di Mambray are found burned to

death in the French alps in Switzerland and in Quebec,

Canada. One year later remaining members of the cult

committed another mass suicide.

1995: Shoko Asahara & The Supreme Truth released Sarin gas

in five Tokyo subway stations killing 12 people (one dying a year after the attack) and sickening more

than 5,500 others. His followers (about 10 000 people) believed that

their leader has the ability to levitate, and that the end of the

world would come in 2000. Asahara was captured and

sentenced to death.

1997: 39 members of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult, led by Marshall Applewhite, commit suicide in California. On March 19, 1997,

as the comet Hale-Bopp was passing Earth. They killed themselves with mixtures of phenobarbitol and applesauce,

followed by vodka. They also put plastic bags over their heads to be sure of asphyxiating, in case the poison didn’t work.

Applewhite’s idea was to die so his spirit would ascend to the UFO following Hale-Bopp, which would then take him and his

followers to another plane, both physical and spiritual.

2000: More than 900 members of a reclusive Christian doomsday cult, under Joseph Kibvetere, in Africa were

murdered by their leaders. Many burned to death, others were buried in mass graves.

2003: Members of the Raelians, a cult founded by Claude

Vorilhonnow known as

"Rael" claimed that with the assistant of Clonaid, a human cloning company,

they had cloned two or more infants.

Members of the Raëlian Church consist of people who have been baptized by Raëlian clergy in

quarterly ceremonies, and among the converts are members of Raëlian-founded free love groups

such as the Order of Angels and Raël’s Girls. The organization—which preaches a sensual

philosophy and a physicalist explanation of the origin of life—could have as many as sixty-five

thousand members.

The Raëlian Church members follow a UFO religion that favors a strong version of physicalism – the belief that everything

consists only of physical properties. Raëlians deny the existence of the ethereal soul and a supernatural god, and believe

that the mind is a function of matter alone.

Omnipresence of cults and cult activities

Some estimates suggest there are over 5000 cults in the U.S. alone (including militia groups, extremist religions, and new age sects)

The new millennium rekindled interest and membership in cults.

Some estimates suggest upwards of 185,000 converts per year

Not all cults are religious or spiritual in nature. Modern cults include large group-awareness trainings, psychotherapy, business, political, and "New Age" groups

What is a “cult?”

Difficulty of defining cults precisely:One person’s cult is another person’s religionEuropeans call them “sects”“cult” is a pejorative term, usually used by one group to brand another.

Singer & Lalich (1995): “a cultic relationship is one in which a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him or her for almost all major life decisions, and inculcates in these followers a belief that he or she has some special talent, gift, or knowledge.”

More problems with defining cultsWhat is the difference between a “cult” and a “social movement,” or an “extremist group” or a “club.”

Which, if any, of the following are cults?Unification Church (“moonies”)Church of ScientologyMormonismAmishthe Manson familyMasons or ShrinersMilitia groupsHell’s angelsSuicide bombersFraternitiesAmwayTrekkers and TrekkiesBoy Scouts of America

“brainwashing”

Can people be “brainwashed.”? There is no science of brainwashing that allows people to be programmed, deprogrammed, or reprogrammed like a computer.

A cult convert has to be a willing participant in his/her conversion. He or she may not be aware of a persuasive effort, but he or she has to go along with the process.Cults use the same basic techniques of persuasion as other persuaders, but in addition, they rely on many unethical strategiesCults employ many strategies at once; physical isolation, ego-reinforcement, sleep deprivation, deception, etc.Cults control the physical environment of members as well (that is why cults often live away from the rest of society in a compound, commune, etc.

Robert Lifton’s (1987) 8 marks of mind control1. milieu control: control of the environment,

communication, access to information

2. Mystical manipulation: the leader gets to reinterpret events and history as she/he sees fit.

3. demand for purity: society is corrupt, members must be purified. The desire to become mentally and physically pure makes members susceptible to guilt, fear, and other moral appeals used by the leader.

4. cult of confession: control of shame and guilt; members must confess any wrongdoing to the leader, including mental infractions

5. sacred science: reliance on dogmatic principles; the leader has all the answers. Only the leader is privileged to know the absolute truth.

Robert Jay Lifton

Lifton’s 8 marks…continued

6. loading the language: reliance on thought-restraining phrases and language; serves to isolate members from the outside world and constrict members’ thinking

7. doctrine over person: the cause’s doctrine takes precedence over the individual. Members’ character and identity have to be reshaped.

8. dispensing of existence: Outsiders are unworthy unless they join the group. Members fear being expelled from the group.

http://www.csj.org/studyindex/studymindctr/study_mindctr_lifton.htm

Recruitment techniques: the cult conversion process

How it starts:Windows of vulnerability: targets are most susceptible during an emotional crisis (divorce, death of loved one, serious illness, etc.)

• target’s judgment may be confused, impaired• target is looking for an answer to life’s problems

Befriending the targetIngratiation strategies (compliments, flattery, especially about sources of insecurity)Lure of forming a serious or close relationship

Invitation to attend a meeting or retreatisolation from friends, familycontrol over environmentDifficult to leave

Deception: withholding the true identify of the group, withholding the purpose of befriending another, etc.

Psychological techniques of persuasion

Unconditional positive regard“love bombing,”group hugs, etc.

Meditation, chanting, and other mind-numbing techniques

Peer group pressurePressure to conform, be part of the group

Verbal abuse

Confession

Fear, guilt appeals

Sacrifice; personal, financial

Loyalty tests

Demonizing (doubts are the Devil at work)

Physical techniques of persuasion

Physical isolationSleep deprivationFastingControl of the person’s time (rigorous schedule, no free time)Loss of privacyConstant praying or witnessing of beliefs to the group

Repetitive motion (chanting, dancing)

Hallucinations (via hyperventilation, hallucinogens, chanting, etc.)

Body manipulation

Extreme dress codes

Loyalty tests

Warning Signs: Checklist of cult characteristicsThe group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display zealous, unquestioning loyalty

The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members

The group is preoccupied with bringing in money

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged, or even punished

Mind-numbing techniques like chanting, speaking in tongues

denunciation sessions are used to suppress doubts about the group or its leadership

The leadership dictates in great detail how members should think, feel, act. (permission to come and go, where to live, how to discipline children, etc.

The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status. The leader is considered the Messiah

Extra-biblical revelation: God communicates directly to the group’s leader.

More warning signs

The group exhibits a polarized “us-them” mentality. Outsiders are evil and must be shunned.

The group’s leader is not accountable to any authorities, inside or outside of the group

The group teaches that its ends justify the means (such as collecting money for phony charities)

The leadership induces guilt, fear, in group members in order to control them

Members’ subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals in the interests of the group

Social encapsulation: Members are encouraged to live with, or socialize with the group exclusively

A warning and advice:Beware of the “self serving bias”

Most people think they are smarter than averageMost people think they are better looking than averageMost people think they are more skilled than other driversMost college students think they will outlive their peers

People tend to think they are immune to cult influence“I’m too smart to be duped by a cult”“People with low self esteem join cults”Only 5 to 6 percent of cult members demonstrate major psychological problems prior to joining a cult (Singer, 1995).

Once involved, it can be difficult to take one’s exitpsychological commitmentthe need to save face

the vast majority of cult recruits are normal, productive people--people confident in their ability to shrug off cult influence tactics

the single most important defense against cult influence is the realization that we are all vulnerable