International Cultic Studies Association

Cultic Studies Review An Internet Journal of Research, News & Opinion Volume 8, Number 2 2009

CONTENTS Articles Reasons for Leaving: Psychological Abuse and Distress Reported by Former Members of Cultic Groups Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.; José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D.; Alvaro Rodrỉguez-Carballeira, Ph.D. & Manuel GảmezGuadix

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A Single-Case Design Implementing Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with an Ex-Cult Member Robert R. DeYoung, Ed.D.

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Terrorist Organizations Are Cults Masoud Banisadr

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Book Reviews Tabernacle of Hope. Bridging Your Darkened Past Toward a Brighter Future Reviewer: Arthur A. Dole, Ph.D. The Complex: An Inside Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology Reviewer: Edward A. Lottick, M.D. Island Reviewer: Joseph P. Szimhart Our Father, who art in bed: A Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart

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News Summaries

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48 49 52

*Note: these pages referenced are different than the original published journal. Please check the end of each article for the original pagination.

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Reasons for Leaving: Psychological Abuse and Distress Reported by Former Members of Cultic Groups Carmen Almendros, Ph.D. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D. Universidad de Barcelona Manuel Gámez-Guadix Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Abstract This exploratory study aims to examine the perceptions that 101 selfidentified Spanish former members of diverse abusive groups have of their past group and their reasons for leaving it, as well as the psychological distress they experienced following their exit. In addition, we compare the participants‘ responses according to their methods of exiting the group and according to whether or not they received any assistance from cultawareness organizations. Most of our participants walked away from the group following a period of personal reflection, without any external intervention, and they considered their own disillusionment as the main factor that led to their disaffiliation. Our results showed no differences between those participants who received support from cult-awareness associations and those who did not; nor did they show any differences, in terms of their motives for leaving, their perceptions of psychological abuse in their former groups, or their reported level of psychological distress, between those participants who walked away from the group and those who left after an outside intervention. Key words: Cults; New religious movements; Cult disaffiliation; Method of exit

The study of cults, new religious movements, or psychologically manipulative groups, as they have come to be labeled, has acquired increasing relevance as society grows more and more concerned with the behavior of some of these groups. Various dramatic events, such as the ―group immolations‖ associated with cults, even though they are not exactly representative of the social problem in question, have given rise to media coverage that is more or less proportional to the magnitude of the event. The bewilderment caused by these occasional deeds promotes the search for explanations as to how certain persons can go so far as to lose their lives or to threaten those of others for supposed ―moral imperatives‖ dictated by a leader or group. A study undertaken by Canteras, Rodríguez, and Rodríguez-Carballeira (1992) reported that 0.5% of a sample of young Spanish people between the ages of 14 and 29 belonged to some kind of religious cult-like association, and that 1.5% of the sample claimed to have been a member at some time in the past. More recently, a study carried out for the AIS association based in Barcelona, which examined the situation of psychologically manipulative groups (not solely of a religious nature) in Catalonia (AIS, 2005), reported that 0.82% of the population claimed to be members of psychologically manipulative groups in that region (Jansà, 2004).

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Leaving a cult is a matter that has received little attention and is probably the least understood question related to the phenomenon (Wright, 1987). Empirical studies are few, which tends to limit most works to a reiteration of the few findings actually made between 1980 and 1990. At the same time, the literature is dominated by theoretical contributions of sociologists of religion, while very few studies have been carried out from a psychological perspective. One of the main stumbling blocks this field of study faces is the intellectual polarization among academics regarding such essential aspects as the denomination and description of the observed phenomena. This fact is reflected in the frequent allusions in the North American literature to two main stances adopted in the field (e.g., Winocur, 1996). One of these is the so-called sociological approach, given that it is one primarily attributed to sociologists, and above all to sociologists of religion, who in the main argue that the rise of cults is due to the simple maturation of a trend initiated last century (Melton, 1997), and which has been the precursor of a new era in North American religious worship (Robbins & Anthony, 1982; Winocur, 1996). The dominant literature in this vein tends to refer to these groups as ―new religious movements‖ and to see them as new, alternative belief systems that, because they deviate from the dominant cultural context, are attacked. It has been argued that claiming that individuals are drawn into cults by methods of brainwashing, or that membership has psychopathological consequences contributes to these persons being seen as a mental health problem (West, 1990); this supposes a ―medicalization‖ of religious groups (Robbins & Anthony, 1982), or a pathologization of a deviation (Spilka, Hood, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 2003). In general, this position holds that membership is free and voluntary, and that the conversion and the experience of the members who commit themselves to these groups is genuine. The studies conducted from this perspective, primarily undertaken with active cult members whose participation has frequently been agreed to with the full cooperation of the cultic group (Ayella, 1990), report either no or only little evidence of psychopathology among them (Levine, 1984; Richardson, 1985, 1995). According to Saliba (1993), more than 75% of these studies tends to show that the psychological profiles of the individuals evaluated were ―normal‖. Likewise, some authors emphasize the existence of pro-social, functional, and adaptive consequences in these groups (Anthony & Robbins, 2004), arguing certain beneficial effects for the health of cult members (Anthony & Robbins, 2004; Galanter 1978; Richardson, 1995). The second perspective, or mental health approach, has been mainly attributed to clinical psychologists and psychiatrists (Spilka, et al., 2003). This position tends to emphasize the manipulative practices that subordinate the health and well-being of the groups‘ members to the benefit of the leaders or upper leadership of the groups, as elements that, unrelated to the beliefs or doctrines of these groups, really define them. This is why, in addition to the attribution of the name ―cult‖, a name with considerable repercussions in the media, other names have been used that refer to the practices of these groups (e.g., psychologically manipulative groups). Seen from this perspective, the cult member is considered a victim of extreme forms of influence or tactics of coercive persuasion (West, 1990), both in their recruitment and the way in which their commitment to the group is maintained (Zablocki, 1998). These studies are usually based on clinical observations and research with former cult members, most of whom were seeking help related to their former cult experience. It is claimed that the psychological pressure and the abuses practiced in the cultic groups result in a certain degree of psychological distress in the members, who would be relatively healthy in the absence of their cultic experience (Langone & Singer, 1994; Singer & Ofshe, 1990; Winocur, 1996). Special attention is paid to the findings that a high percentage of former cult members sought psychological or psychiatric help in relation to the psychological distress they suffered following their disaffiliation from the group (Winocur, 1996). Significant clinical levels of distress have also been reported in various samples of former members (for a review, see Aronoff, Lynn, & Malinoski, 2000). Based on these reports,

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legitimacy has been granted to favoring the adoption of legal actions that restrict the performance of certain cultic groups (Richardson & van Driel, 1984). Probably both perspectives, in their more radical versions, have contributed to the simplification of the phenomenon. In general, authors adopting a mental health perspective have been accused of belonging to the so-called ―anti-cult‖ movement, and of presenting a simplistic vision of the cult member as a defenseless victim of the sophisticated manipulative techniques employed by the cult, which is derided, however, as destructive or intrinsically harmful. By contrast, it has been argued that the academics deemed ―sympathizers‖ of the new religious movements have tended to ignore or minimize abuses committed by these groups, rejecting any kind of negative accounts from former members regarding their experiences, or any adverse consequence to their health, whether reported by those who are affected, professionals, or researchers. An examination of each of these controversies is beyond the scope of this study, which will center itself rather on the experience of leaving a cultic group and the subsequent attitudes expressed by these ex-members. Given that a large number of ex-members of cultic groups consider the terms related to trauma and psychological abuse relevant (Langone & Chambers, 1991), and that they also characterize their experiences in such terms (Chambers, Langone, Dole, & Grice, 1994), it seems important to analyze the question in terms of whether the members of these groups suffer as a result of practices of psychological abuse. Conversion is a dynamic process that should be constantly revitalized (Wright & Ebaugh, 1993). Therefore, not only does the group need to recruit members, resocialize them, and win their commitment, but the process also requires that the compromise is continually renewed and strengthened (Wright, 1983). Ultimately, what these groups aspire to is generating a lasting conversion experience that persists even when the group has withdrawn much of the pressure (Zablocki, 1997). For this reason, Zablocki (1998) and Kent (1997) characterized these groups primarily on their practices aimed at retaining members, fomenting fear, or hindering the individual from imagining an existence outside the group. However, this process might be interrupted for a variety of reasons, which lead to the member leaving the group. There is a certain consensus in the literature supporting the fact that the majority of cult group members end up leaving their groups after an undefined period of time (Bird & Reimer, 1982; Langone, 1993a; Levine, 1984), and that most of them do so on their own or without any apparent or organized help (Shupe & Bromley, 1980; Wright & Ebaugh, 1993; Zablocki, 1998). Even before conversion itself occurs, high percentages of individuals attending workshops run by the Unification Church in the United Kingdom and the United States have been reported as abandoning the process (Barker, 1984; Galanter, 1983). Based on these two pieces, a low success rate in cultic recruitment tactics in general has been argued (Anthony & Robbins, 2004; Barker, 1989), although the low success rates may seem high compared to other influence processes, such as a Billy Graham Crusade (Langone, 1993b). Leaving a cult has been described as a complex phenomenon, in part because the decision is often believed to have transcendental implications (Skonovd, 1983), although it can also occur quite suddenly when the member is facing a specific critical event that serves as a detonator. Leaving often follows a long period of disenchantment with the group, during which the member frequently tries to overcome any initial doubts by employing one of the following tactics: repression or avoidance, justification or rationalization, redefinition or giving as good what is found to be incorrect, or seeking refuge in some part of the religion where the problem is less apparent (Skonovd, 1983). In this way, the individual might be able to deal with the problems, particularly if they are episodic rather than constant, and if he or she is compensated by positive experiences that bring the person closer to the group (Bromley, 1991). According to Bromley (1991), the difficulty in reaching any conclusion Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 5

regarding the meaning of personal doubts may be exacerbated by the fact that often the individual, immersed in an active process of personal change, might interpret personal doubts as a simple stage in his or her own development. Moreover, the decision might be perceived as permanent and irreversible, unlike the situation in traditional religious groups (Bromley, 1991), with disaffiliation making it impossible to maintain effective ties with emotionally significant persons who remain members of the group. Among the reasons given for leaving a cult, Wright (1983) identified the following ―precipitating factors‖ in a sample of 45 subjects, distributed in groups of 15 from among former members of the Unification Church, Hare Krishna, and the Children of God: a break in the subject‘s isolation from the outside world; the development of an intimate relationship or an effective commitment that competes with that felt for the group; disillusionment derived from the failure of the group to fulfill its declared goals; and the perception of inconsistencies between the actions of the leader or leaders and the ideals they supposedly represent. Chambers et al. (1994), in their study of 308 former members of various groups, highlighted the importance of time spent outside the group; suffering a disillusioning experience with the leader; becoming aware of being manipulated; or perceiving that one is the object of abuse or exploitation. Jacobs (1987) studied 40 former members of various groups and identified two main sources of disenchantment whereby the social bonds with the group itself break first, followed by deterioration in and rupture of emotional ties with the charismatic leader. The author described four areas of disaffection with the leader: principally forms of psychological abuse, such as verbal abuse; degradation and the perception of rejection or emotional disdain from the leader; unmaterialized affect and the perception of artificial feelings. The importance of the family has also been recognized as a factor in the decision to leave the group (Goldberg & Goldberg, 1989; Langone 1990). Wright and Piper (1986) specifically studied this family influence of ―voluntary‖ disaffiliation from a cult and concluded that parental disapproval of a child‘s involvement in a cult was the most important factor in accounting for the child‘s exit from the cult. The ways in which members leave a group can be classified as 

Voluntary Exit, a term used by Wright (1984) to refer to those who leave a group without any outside intervention.

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Involuntary Exit, which includes those who have left the group after a deprogramming process, which involves the kidnapping of the subjects by family or friends so that the individuals can be subjected against their will to the intervention. This group can also include those who left because they were expelled or because the group was dissolved. Or



Counseled Exit, which refers to those who left because of the efforts of family, friends, or professionals to bring about the subjects‘ disaffiliation.

The validity of negative reports provided by former members who perceived themselves to be objects of abuse and manipulation while in the group has been called into question. Their testimonies have been labeled ―atrocity tales‖ (Bromley, Shupe & Ventimiglia, 1983; Shupe & Bromley, 1980), based on the understanding that these appraisals of their former cultic experiences would be negatively biased by their method of exit—involuntary or counseled exit (Lewis, 1986; Solomon, 1981), and/or the influence of any contacts maintained with cult-awareness associations (CAAs) after they have left the group. It has even been claimed that the tendency of former members to hold negative and stereotypical attitudes toward their groups would correlate closely with the degree of exposure to the socializing influences of the ―anti-cult movement‖ (Lewis, 1986; Solomon, 1981), and that this relationship results in descriptions of supposed mental aberrations that occurred in the group. Even more, claims have been made that the subjects who had left the group after any kind of Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 6

exit-counseling would tend to adopt these ―anti-cult‖ organizations, or coalitions of opposition (Bromley, 1998; Wright, 1998), as their groups of reference, which would in turn pressurize former members to verify their victimization so that they manifested greater difficulties or psychopathology than those who abandoned the group by their own choice (Lewis & Bromley, 1987). The former members would be encouraged to follow a ―social script‖ defined by the anti-cult organization, which would highlight their role as ―victim‖ or ―survivor‖ in the context of a ―captivity narrative‖ (Wright, 1998). Finally, it has been argued that these negative testimonies and evidence of victimization of the former members, above all those who have been deprogrammed, constitute the main evidence that shapes or influences public opinion regarding these groups (Bromley, 1998). In this exploratory study, based on an examination of the perceptions of the former members of these manipulative groups, we aim to investigate the motives and the circumstances that led subjects to leave their groups. We also examine the extent to which the perceptions of the former members regarding their reasons for leaving the group vary, the degree of psychological abuse they experienced, and the level of psychological distress shown by the participants, as a function of their method of exiting and the assistance they might have received from CAAs. Methods Participants Our study sample was composed of 101 Spanish individuals, self-identified as former members of one of a total of 27 different abusive groups. The groups that they informed us about differed in nature and included new age, religious, political, and commercial groups, and so on. We contacted the subjects using data provided by associations that provide information, education, or assistance in relation to psychologically manipulative groups (32.7%); by professionals, primarily from the field of mental health although not necessarily familiar with the subject in question (33.7%); and by former members—participants or otherwise in our study—who put us in contact with other former members (33.6%). In addition, 50 of these former members responded on a second occasion to one of the instruments included in this study: the Spanish version of the Group Psychological Abuse Scale. Instruments We prepared a background questionnaire ad hoc (Almendros, 2006), which collects information about some of the subjects‘ socio-demographic data. We also recorded the subjects‘ perceptions of various matters related to their former membership of the group: method and reasons for leaving, contact with any CAA, search for psychological advice, and positive or negative aspects of their experience. To determine their reasons for leaving, we included the Cult Disaffiliation Factors Scale (CDF), based on the literature (Chambers et al., 1994; Wright, 1983, 1984), which comprises 10 brief items with a range of response choices from ―0 = Not at all‖ to ―5 =Completely‖. We employed the Spanish version of the Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA-S; Almendros, Carrobles, Rodríguez-Carballeira & Jansà, 2004; Almendros, 2006). The original GPA Scale (Chambers et al., 1994) is a standardized measure developed to evaluate perceived psychological abuse in group settings. The Spanish version comprises 28 items distributed in three subscales: Compliance (10 items), Mind Control (10 items), and Exploitation (8 items). Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (from ―1= not at all characteristic‖ to ―5 = very characteristic‖), with a possible range of scores for the Compliance and Mind Control subscales from 10 to 50 and from 8 to 40 for that of Exploitation, with a range for the GPA overall scale from 28 to 140. Scores above 81 on the global scale are considered positive, indicating that the subject perceived the group to be Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 7

abusive. The reliability coefficients identified for the Spanish version applied to a group of former members of various manipulative groups, and which have been used in this study, were, in general, satisfactory, fluctuating between 0.70 for the Exploitation subscale, to 0.75 for that of Mind Control, and 0.86 for that of Compliance. We administered the test twice, separated by varying time intervals. We used the Symptom Checklist—90—Revised (SCL—90—R; Derogatis, 1983—Spanish version adapted by González de Rivera et al., 2002). This self-report inventory contains 90 items designed to detect and measure current symptoms of psychopathology and symptom patterns. Each item is a description of a psychological symptom and is rated by the subject on a Likert scale, from 0 (total absence of problems related to the symptom) to 4 (severe problems), in accordance with the severity of the problem experienced over the preceding seven days. Based on these 90 items, a summary index of psychological distress, the Global Severity Index (GSI), is obtained. The index is typically used as a simple sensitive measure of a subject‘s overall psychological distress. Procedure We collected the data over a fairly long period (June 2001 to May 2005). The participants, who lived in a number of different Spanish provinces, were, in those instances where they were interviewed face-to-face by the first author, assessed in suitable locations. Because of the characteristics of the sample, among which we should highlight the difficulties in making contact with the participants, and a certain reluctance on the part of some subjects to participate in person, we included two modes of participation in the study: face-to-face and by mail. A total of 58 subjects (57.4%) participated face-to-face and 43 individuals (42.6%) replied to the instruments and returned their responses by mail. This latter group was informed of the nature of the study by telephone. They all completed an informed-consent form, participating voluntarily and without recompense in the study. Only two people who met the inclusion criteria refused to participate in the study (in either mode) during the initial telephone interview. All those who agreed to be interviewed in person came to the interview at the time and place assigned. Of the 62 packages sent to be completed by mail, either directly to the participant or indirectly to a research collaborator, 43 were returned and successfully completed, and two were incorrectly completed. This gave us a return rate of 72.58% for the mail mode and an effective response rate of 69.35%. The material for the test-retest study was sent to those participants among the 101 former members who gave a standard mailing address in the first contact (70 subjects). Of these, 50 respondents returned the tests correctly filled in, giving an effective response rate of 71.4%. The time intervals between evaluation varied greatly from one subject to another, ranging between 1.25 months and 32.32 months, with the average time elapsed being 15.52 months (SD: 7.26). Results Because we found no significant differences in the variables of interest between the methods of response (in person or by mail), we consider the data together in the rest of the analysis (GPA: Mean Mail Score: 103.37; Mean In-person Score: 103.79; t(99)=-0.12; p=0.91) (GSI males: 0.70; 0.66; t(41)=0.17; p=0.87) (GSI females: 0.99; 0.86; t(37)=0.58; p=0.57). Sample Characteristics The sample comprised a total of 101 subjects, self-identified as former members of one of a total of 27 abusive manipulative groups ranging from religious, to new age, to rehabilitative/ pseudotherapeutic, to political and/or commercial. Fifty-five subjects were male (54.5%), and 46 subjects were female (45.5%). Their mean age on participation was 43.47 years (SD: 12.22). The mean age of the subjects when they joined their respective Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 8

groups was 26.75 years of age (SD: 12.26; Range: 0-60). The participants had belonged to the group for a mean period of 9.83 years (SD: 9.55), and the mean time elapsed since they had left the group until the day they participated in the study was 6.35 years (SD: 6.68). At the time they completed the tests (n=99), 18 subjects (17.8%) had finished primary education or the equivalent, 32 participants (31.7%) had finished secondary education or vocational training programs or the equivalent, 22 subjects (21.8%) had completed a diploma degree program, and 27 participants (26,7%) had higher educational qualifications. Most of the participants (59.4%) described themselves as being of a Medium socioeconomic status, 20.8% of them described themselves as being Medium High (19.8%) or High (1%), and the rest claimed to be Medium Low (12.9%) or Low (4%). Of the 99 subjects who responded to the question that asked them to describe how they had left the cultic group, excluding the three subjects who chose the option ―other‖, 61.5% (59 participants) responded ―walk away, personal reflection”; 25% (24) of the subjects replied ―exit following counseling from a professional and/or family member/s and/or friend/s”; 11.5% (11) replied by “expulsion or invitation to leave by the group”; and 2.1% (2) responded that they left because of the ―dissolution of the group.” None of the participants chose the option ―involuntary deprogramming.” We should stress that the participants were able to choose more than one method of leaving the group, and so frequently they chose the category ―personal reflection‖ plus another option. In such cases, we considered the alternative option to that of personal reflection, so that the figure of 61.5% corresponds to those who responded only to this option, a total of 77 subjects. Of the 98 participants responding as to whether they had at any time received support or advice from a CAA, 29.6% (29 subjects) said they had, as opposed to 70.4% (69 subjects) who responded they had not. We should stress that those who did receive such counseling were not necessarily those who said they left the group following the counseling of a professional, family member, and/or friend. Finally, 18.2% (18 persons; n=99) were receiving psychological attention at the time they participated in our study, although this was not necessarily in relation to their group experience. Reasons for Disaffiliation A total of 91.1% of the subjects (92) completed the Cult Disaffiliation Factors scale correctly without omitting any of the items. We calculated the item-total correlation values for all of the items, which were, in general, adequate and greater than 0.30, with the exception of item 4 (―actions taken by family members and/or friends‖), which had a lower correlation value (rj(x-j) = 0.19), indicating a weaker relation between this item and the scale total. We evaluated reliability, estimated as the internal consistency of the 10-item CDF scale, by calculating Cronbach‘s Alpha; we obtained a value (alpha = 0.77), which showed a moderate degree of internal consistency for the scale. It was also noted that the only item whose elimination would result in an increase in the scale‘s Alpha coefficient was item 4. Thus, we discarded this item from the analysis, thereby increasing Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficient for the CDF scale to 0.79. However, we considered this item as an independent external factor of disaffiliation. We next performed an exploratory factorial analysis with the nine remaining items, following a prior analysis of the suitability of such a test, calculating Bartlett‘s sphericity test (p=0.00) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (0.76). The extraction method used was that of Principal Components, and we employed the Varimax rotation method. The analysis revealed a structure made up of two factors that accounted for 53.22% of the total variance. The first of these factors (percentage of variance: 27.77%; eigenvalue: 2.50) consisted of the following five items: ―Questioning some of the regulations and obligations‖ (factorial load: 0.87); ―Restrictive life style in the group‖ (0.77); ―Experience of greater Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 9

intimacy and private space not controlled by the group‖ (0.68); ―A feeling of being abused and/or exploited‖ (0.66); ―Spending time away from or without contact with the group‖ (0.41). Following a theoretical analysis of the items that made up the factors, we labeled the first of these Regulation, in reference to the living conditions in the group where the individual‘s life, including his or her private space, is controlled, including the obligations and restrictions that can even result in his or her exploitation. The second factor (25.45%; 2.29) was composed of four items: ―Disillusionment with the leader and/or group‖ (0.78); ―Contradictions between the group‘s doctrine and practices‖ (0.74); ―Becoming aware of deceitful practices or manipulation‖ (0.67); ―Repeated errors of prediction or failed prophecy‖ (0.61). We have called this second factor Disillusion, in reference to the inconsistencies within the group or as manifest by the leader and the expressed perception of having been deceived. Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficients for the subscales were acceptable (Regulation: 0.75; Disillusion: 0.69) considering the small number of items (five and four, respectively). We also calculated the mean scores for both subscales, as well as for item 4, which we considered an independent factor. The factor with the highest mean score, with a possible range from 0 to 5, was that of ―Disillusion‖ (3.39; SD: 1.35), followed by that of ―Regulation‖ (2.49; SD: 1.37), and finally that of ―Family Intervention‖ (2.00; SD: 2.08). To examine the disaffiliation factors in relation to whether or not the method the subject used to leave the group involved external intervention, we used Student‘s t-test for independent samples. This t-test let us examine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the scores of the two CDF scales and the item of ―Family Intervention‖ for the two groups—walk-away exits and counseled exits. Figure 1 is a graphic representation of the mean scores of the subscales and the item in relation to the method used to leave the group. Our results indicate the absence of any significant differences between the groups, whatever the method of group exit, when the reasons for leaving were ―Regulation‖ (t(77)=-0.55; p=0.58) and ―Disillusion‖ (t(75)=-0.70; p=0.49). We found statistically significant differences, however, between the methods of exit (t(78)=-7.04; p=0.00) in the case of ―Family Intervention,‖ whereby those subjects who left the group after professional, family member/s, or friendly advice presented a greater intervention by family members. We used the same Student‘s t-test to analyze the differences we found between the mean scores for the disaffiliation factors in terms of the contact maintained by the participants with any CAA. Here again, we did not find any significant differences between the scores of the two groups (those who were assisted by an association and those who were not) for the factors of ―Regulation‖ (t(91)=-0.74; p=0.46) and ―Disillusion‖ (t(88)=-0.47; p=0.64). By contrast, we found significant differences for the item ―Family Intervention‖ between the two groups (t(92)=-3.72; p=0.00), so that some kind of family intervention was more likely in the case of those who had been in contact with a CAA (see Figure 1). Post-Exit Perceptions of the Group To examine whether the method of exit or whether contact with a CAA influenced the former members‘ perception of the degree of psychological abuse inflicted within their groups, we considered their responses to the Group Psychological Abuse Scale. The mean score of all the participants on the

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Figure 1. Disaffiliation Factors by Method of Exit (Walked Away or Counseled) and Contact or Not with Cult Awareness Associations

GPA-S was 103.61 (SD: 18.16), well above the cut-off point of 81, which indicates that the subject considers the group as being abusive. As for the GPA-S subscales, ―Compliance‖ obtained a mean score of 41.55 (SD= 8.64), followed by ―Mind Control,‖ with a mean score of 41.06 (SD= 6.84). The ―Exploitation‖ subscale, comprising eight items, presented a mean score of 21.00 (SD=6.76). We compared the mean scores of the participants, based on whether the method of exiting the group was ―walked away‖ or ―counseled,‖ for the global GPA scale and its subscales (see Figure 2). In the case of the global scale, the mean scores of the different groups were Walked away: 102.46 (SD: 18.05) and Counseled: 102.46 (SD: 20.0). We found no significant differences between the two groups for the GPA-S (t(81)=0,00; p=1,00), or the Compliance (t(81)=0,55; p=0,58), Mind Control (t(81)=-0,78; p=0,44), and Exploitation (t(81)=0,05; p=0,96) subscales. Likewise, we examined the mean scores of the participants on the GPA and its subscales (see Figure 2), to examine whether there were any significant differences between the

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mean scores of those who had received assistance from a CAA (103.07; SD: 17.94) and those who had not (103.52; SD: 18.58). We did not find any significant differences for either the GPA (t(96)=-0,11; p=0,91) or the ―Compliance‖ (t(96)=0.94; p=0.35), ―Mind Control‖ (t(96)=-0.10; p=0.93), and ―Exploitation‖ (t(96)=-0.81; p=0.42) subscales. We also examined the consistency over time of the responses of the 50 participants who responded to the GPA-S a second time. Prior to doing this, we used the Student‘s t-test for related samples to compare the mean scores we had obtained in the first application of the GPA scale among those subjects who had received the material for the test-retest study and had completed and returned it (n=50), and those subjects who did not (n=17). We found no significant differences between the groups (Retest mean=104.98; SD=17.59; No retest mean=103.35; SD: 12.23; t(65)=0.35; p=0.73). Next, we assessed the reproducibility of the scores on the scale using the intraclass correlation coefficient; we found the values to be significant and, in general, appropriate (Anastasi, 1988) for the GPA scale (r=0.86; p=0.00) and its subscales (Compliance: r=0.90; p=0.00; Mind Control: r=0.73; p=0.00; Exploitation: r=0.81; p=0.00). Figure 2. Perceived Psychological Abuse by Method of Exit (Walked Away or Counseled) and Contact or Not with Cult Awareness Associations

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Psychological Distress Eighty-two participants completed the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) correctly; of those, 52.4% was male and 47.6% female. The mean scores for the Global Severity Index (GSI) were 0.68 (SD: 0.60) for the males and 0.92 (SD: 0.69) for the females. We used the Student‘s t-test to compare the mean scores on the GSI (see Figure 3) separately, taking into consideration the participants‘ sex according to their exit method (walked away or counseled); we did not find any significant differences between the groups, nor between the male (t(31)=0.32; p=0.75) and female participants (t(32)=0.12; p=0.91). Likewise, we compared the mean scores on the GSI between those participants who had been counseled by a CAA and those who had not (see Figure 3). The groups did not present any significant differences in their mean scores, or between the male (t‘(40.9)=1.65; p=0.11) and female participants (t(35)=-1.32; p=0.20). Discussion Despite the limitations of our sample of self-identified former members of abusive groups— i.e., the small sample size, the difficulty of ensuring that the sample is representative, and the fact that it is based on retrospective information, it would appear to be reasonably appropriate for the comparisons that we have undertaken here. In this sense, we do manage to overcome some limitations noted by Wright (1984), Lewis (1986), Lewis and Bromley (1987) and others. Researchers‘ selection of groups that they call ―cults‖ or some related term has been criticized. In this study, however, the subjects, not the researchers, identified their groups as ―abusive.‖ Also, it has been noted that samples are most frequently compiled with the collaboration of cult-awareness groups. Only about one-third (32.7%) of our participants was contacted through data provided by these organizations. The reliance on samples composed predominantly of individuals who left the group with the aid of deprogramming or other ―exit therapy,‖ or of those whose accounts may have been influenced by their socialization with the so-called anti-cult movement, has been questioned. None of our participants was deprogrammed, and only 25% left the group after counseling. Only 29.6% had sometimes taken advice from a CAA because of their cultic group experience. Finally, the reliance on clinical samples of people who were seeking psychotherapy or were about to initiate treatment with the researchers has been criticized. Just a few of our subjects (18.2%) were receiving psychological advice at the moment the study took place, and not necessarily concerning their cultic experiences.

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Figure 3. Psychological Distress by Method of Exit (Walked Away or Counseled) and Contact or Not with Cult Awareness Associations

Most of our participants walked away from the group by themselves or did so following a period of personal reflection, due, in the main, to a sense of disenchantment or their appreciation of inconsistencies between the doctrine and the group‘s ideals and its actual practices, as well as their becoming aware of deceit. Other reasons for their leaving that seem to be important were the imposition of certain norms and restrictive ways of behaving that might even become abusive. Therefore, it appears that, among the reasons for leaving that the former members referred to, the greatest importance is given to those reasons that related to the former members‘ growing perception of manipulative practices and contradictions. This item is followed in importance by factors that affected how they led their lives as members of the group, or that resulted in their suffering abuse. In all likelihood, the personal betrayal that some former members felt when they realized they Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 14

were the victims of deceit and lies regarding something that, up until that time, they had believed genuine, might well have been more painful than other forms of abuse to which they were subjected, such as exploitation or having to lead a restricted life of sacrifice to achieve their supposed goal. It seems that certain abuses will be tolerated so long as members remain confident about the group‘s ideals, but once the group or its leaders lose credibility in the members‘ eyes, abuse is harder to tolerate. Finally, though family intervention was reported to be the least important factor as a reason for leaving the group for the overall sample, it was the most important reason given, above the Regulation or Disillusion factors, for those who left the group after they had received counseling from a professional, family member and/or friend. Of the overall sample, twentyfive percent of the participants chose the option ―Completely‖ to describe the importance of the item ―actions taken by family members and/or friends‖ as a reason for leaving, compared to 41.7% who chose the option ―Not at all.‖ Why so many rated the family factor so low is unclear. Perhaps many of these subjects had little contact with their families. Perhaps their families‘ attitudes toward the subjects‘ group involvement were positive or indifferent. Or perhaps the subjects paid little attention to negative family attitudes toward the group and, as a consequence, gave a low rating to the family factor. Unlike the arguments forwarded from the sociological camp, which tend to discredit information provided by former members who have received counseling, our data show no differences regarding the perceptions of the motives for disaffiliating from the group, or in the abusive practices reported, between those who left ―voluntarily‖ (Wright, 1984), those who left after a period of what we have termed ―personal reflection‖ (considering only those subjects who chose just this one option), and those whose exit was counseled or ―involuntary‖ (Wright, 1984). Indeed, we should stress the similarity in the perceptions among these individuals of the psychological abuse experienced in their former groups, manifested both in their overall scores on the GPA-S, and in the types of abuse captured by the subscales. Likewise, neither did we find any significant differences in the psychological distress, reported via the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the SCL-90-R test, in the two groups and in both sexes. The same absence of differences in the variables mentioned was also found when we compared the group of individuals who had received assistance from a CAA and the group who had not. We had expected to find differences between the groups, but, contrary to arguments forwarded from a sociological perspective, we expected those differences along the lines that counseled individuals would show lower levels of psychological distress. Among these participants, Almendros (2006) found no differences in the psychological distress reported between those who had received counseling after leaving (excluding those receiving this support at the time they participated in the study), and those who had never received any psychological help following their exit from the group. Overall, our results do not suggest that former members demonstrate any benefits from counseling, whenever it was received in their psychological state at the time they responded to the questionnaires. It is possible that the professional help they received would, in many cases, have been of a generalist type, given the lack of specialist resources for this particular social group (Rodríguez, 1994). In the literature, in the case of former cult members, we find several references to possible diagnostic errors by professionals unfamiliar with the field and so who might find the problems presented by the former members unusual (Goski, 1994, Hassan, 1990; Rodríguez & Almendros, 2005; Tobias & Lalich, 1994), particularly if the latter have yet to come to terms with the experience so that they can present the information in such a way as to seek more specific help. A study by Lois Kendall in the UK (2009), distinguished among first and second generation former ―sect‖ members when looking at distress levels over time among those who had received post-sect counseling and those who didn‘t. She found marked decreases in distress Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 15

over time for second generation former members with counseling compared to second generation without counseling. However, first generation former members didn‘t show this decline in distress, even with counseling. Kendall‘s study did not inquire into whether or not subjects received counseling from cult specialists. So far as we know, no study has compared mental health outcomes among former members who had received specialized and non-specialized counseling. Clinical experience with thousands of former cult members (Langone, 1993a), however, strongly suggests that an understanding of cultic dynamics and the special problems of cult members would enhance the effectiveness of mental health professionals by reducing their tendency to make erroneous diagnoses, improving their capacity to respond to cult-related causes of clients‘ problems, and making them more likely to refer clients to specialists. Overall, the participants in our study highlighted the deception and manipulation practiced by the group as their main reasons for leaving, and they presented high scores on the Mind Control subscale of the GPA. We detected no differences, as we have discussed above, in these responses according to the method of leaving or whether or not there had been any contact with a CAA. In an earlier study of the perceptions of former members regarding their initial involvement with the group (Almendros, Carrobles & Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2007), these subjects highlighted ―manipulation‖ as the main motive for their having entered the cult. The information former members reported regarding the psychological abuse inflicted by their former groups remained unaltered, even after time periods of more than 2½ years separating the two administrations of the GPA-S. Here, we should stress that Almendros (2006) also didn‘t find any differences in the scores when participants were grouped according to the time (four separate groups) that had elapsed between the two assessments. This finding is in line with reports made by Zablocki (1996; cited by Lalich, 2001; 2001), who claims that the accounts of former members remain consistent over periods of many years. As in other social situations, what is ultimately important is not ―to deny a voice to a whole class of people‖ (Zablocki, 2001), but rather to provide the prudent validation of the experiences of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse that these individuals report having suffered. References AIS (Atención e Investigación sobre Socioadicciones). (2005). Grupos de manipulación psicológica en Cataluña situación y conceptos. Barcelona: Autor. Almendros, C. (2006). Abuso psicológico en contextos grupales. Doctoral dissertation presented at the Psychology Faculty. Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. Almendros, C., Carrobles, J. A., & Rodríguez-Carballeira, A. (2007). Former members‘ perceptions of cult involvement. Cultic Studies Review, 6, 1–20. Almendros, C., Carrobles, J. A., Rodríguez-Carballeira, A., & Jansà, J. M. (2004). Propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la Group Psychological Abuse Scale para la medida de abuso psicológico en contextos grupales. Psicothema, 16, 132–138. Anastasi, A. (1988). Psychological testing. New York: Macmillan. Anthony, D., & Robbins, T. (2004). Conversion and ―brainwashing‖ in new religious movements. In J. R. Lewis (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of New Religions (243–297). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Aronoff, J., Lynn, S. J., & Malinoski, P. (2000). Are cultic environments psychologically harmful? Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 91–111. Ayella, M. (1990). ―They must be crazy.‖ Some of the difficulties in researching ―cults.‖ American Behavioral Scientist, 33, 562–577. Barker, E. (1984). The making of a Moonie: Choice or brainwashing. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Barker, E. (1989). New Religion Movements: A Practical Introduction. London: HMSO. Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 16

Bird, F., & Reimer, B. (1982). Participation rates in new religious movements. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 21, 1–14. Bromley, D. G. (1991). Unraveling religious disaffiliation: The meaning and significance of falling from the faith in contemporary society. Counseling & Values, 35, 164–185. Bromley, D. G. (1998). The social construction of contested exit roles: Defectors, whistleblowers, and apostates. In D. G. Bromley (Ed.), The Politics of Religious Apostasy (19-48). Westport, CT: Praeger. Bromley, D. G., Shupe, A., & Ventimiglia, J. (1983). The role of anecdotal atrocities in the social construction of evil. In D. G. Bromley & J. T. Richardson (Eds.), The brainwashing/deprogramming controversy (139–160). New York: Edwin Mellen Press. Canteras, A., Rodríguez, P., & Rodríguez-Carballeira, A. (1992). Jóvenes y sectas: Un análisis del fenómeno religioso-sectario en España. Madrid: Centro de Publicaciones. Ministerio de Asuntos Sociales. Chambers, W. V., Langone, M. D., Dole, A. A., & Grice, J. W. (1994). The Group Psychological Abuse scale: A measure of the varieties of cultic abuse. Cultic Studies Journal, 11, 88–117. Conway, F., Siegelman, J., Carmichael, C. W., & Coggins, J. (1986). Information disease: Effects of covert induction and deprogramming. Update, 10, 45–57. Derogatis, L. R. (1983). SCL-90-R. Administration, Scoring and Procedures Manual II for the Revised Version of the SCL-90. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Galanter, M. (1978). The relief effect: A sociobiological model for neurotic distress and large-group therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 588–591. Galanter, M. (1983). Unification Church (―Moonie‖) dropouts: Psychological readjustment after leaving a charismatic religious group. American Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 984–989. Galanter, M. (1989). Cults: Faith, healing and coercion. New York: Oxford University Press. Goldberg, L., & Goldberg, W. (1989) Family responses to a young adult's cult membership and return. Cultic Studies Journal. 6 (1), 86–100. González de Rivera, J. L., et cols. (2002). SCL-90-R. Cuestionario de 90 síntomas. Manual. Madrid: Publicaciones de Psicología Aplicada. TEA Ediciones. Hassan, S. (1990). Cómo combatir las técnicas de control mental de las sectas. Barcelona: Urano. Jacobs, J. (1987). Deconversion from religious movements: An analysis of charismatic bonding and spiritual commitment. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 26, 294–308. Jansà, J. M. (2004, October). Groups of psychological manipulation in Catalonia (Spain). Paper presented at ICSA International Conference: Understanding Cults and New Religious Movements, Atlanta, GA. Kendall, L. (2009, July). The value of counseling for second-generation former sect members. Paper presented at ICSA Annual International Conference, Geneva, Switzerland. Lalich, J. (2001). Pitfalls in the sociological study of cults. In B. Zablocki & T. Robbins (Eds.), Misunderstanding cults: Searching for objectivity in a controversial field (123–155). Canada: University of Toronto Press. Langone, M. D. (1990). Working with cult-affected families. Psychiatric Annals, 20, 194–198. Langone, M. D. (1993a). Introduction. In M. D. Langone (Ed.), Recovery from cults. Help for victims of psychological and spiritual abuse (1–21). New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Langone, M. D. (1993b). Helping cult victims: Historical background. In M. D. Langone (Ed.), Recovery from cults. Help for victims of psychological and spiritual abuse (22–47). New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Langone, M. D., & Chambers, W. V. (1991). Outreach to ex-cult members: The question of terminology. Cultic Studies Journal, 8, 134–150. Langone, M. D., & Singer, M. T. (1994). Trastornos psicológicos y psiquiátricos más comunes causados por los cultos. In AIS (Ed.), II Congreso Internacional: Grupos Totalitarios y Sectarismo (151– 162). Barcelona: Author. Levine, S. V. (1984). Radical departures: Desperate detours to growing up. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Lewis, J. R. (1986). Reconstructing the cult experience: Post-involvement attitudes as a function of mode of exit and post-involvement socialization. Sociological Analysis, 46, 151–159. Lewis, J. R., & Bromley, D. (1987). The cult withdrawal syndrome: A case of misattribution of cause? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 26, 508–522. Melton, J. G. (1997). European Receptivity to the New Religions. In H. Meldgaard & J. Aagaard, (Eds.), New religious movements in Europe (18–30). England: Cambridge University Press.

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Richardson, J. T. (1985). Psychological and psychiatric studies of new religions. In L. B. Brown (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of religion (209–223). Oxford, England: Pergamon. Richardson, J. T. (1995). Clinical and Personality Assessment of Participants in New Religions. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 5, 145–170. Richardson, J. T., & van Driel, B. (1984). Public support for anti-cult legislation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 23, 412–418. Robbins, T., & Anthony, D. (1982). Deprogramming, brainwashing and the medicalization of deviant religious groups. Social Problems, 29, 283–297. Rodríguez, C., & Almendros, C. (2005). Ladrones de Libertad. Pseudoterapias “religiosas” New Age. Madrid: Ediciones Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Rodríguez, P. (1994). Tu hijo y las sectas. Madrid: Ed. Temas de Hoy. Saliba, J. A. (1993). The new religions and mental health. In D. G. Bromley & J. K. Hadden (Eds.), Religion and the social order. The handbook on cults and sects in America (99-113). Vol. 3, part B. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Shupe, A. D., & Bromley, D. G. (1980). The new vigilantes: Deprogrammers, anticultists and the new religions. Beverly Hills: Sage. Singer, M. T., & Ofshe, R. (1990). Thought reform programs and the production of psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric Annals, 20, 188–193. Skonovd, N. (1983). Leaving the cultic milieu. In D. Bromley & J. Richardson (Eds.), The brainwashing/deprogramming controversy (91–105). New York: Edwin Mellen. Solomon, T. (1981). Integrating the ‗Moonie‘ experience: A survey of ex-members of the Unification Church. In T. Robbins & D. Anthony (Eds.), In gods we trust (275–295). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. Spilka, B., Hood, R. W. Jr., Hunsberger, B., & Gorsuch, R. (2003). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Swartling, G., & Swartling, P. G. (1992). Psychiatric problems in ex-members of Word of Life. Cultic Studies Journal, 9, 78–88. Tobias, M. L., & Lalich, J. (1994). Captive hearts, captive minds: Freedom and recovery from cults and abusive relationships. Alameda, CA: Hunter House. West, L. J. (1990). Persuasive techniques in contemporary cults: A public health approach. Cultic Studies Journal, 7, 126–149. Winocur, N. (1996). The assessment of cult involvement and its relationship to psychological distress in former cult members (Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University at Culver City, CA, 1995). Dissertation Abstracts International, 56 (11B), 6413. Wright, S. A. (1983). Defection from new religious movements: A test of some theoretical propositions. In D. G. Bromley & J. T. Richardson (Eds.), The brainwashing/deprogramming controversy (106–121). New York: Edwin Mellen Press. Wright, S. A. (1984). Post-involvement attitudes of voluntary defectors from new religious movements. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 23, 172–182. Wright, S. A. (1987). Leaving cults. The dynamics of defection. Washington, DC: Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Wright, S. A. (1998). Exploring factors that shape the apostate role. In D. G. Bromley (Ed.), The politics of religious apostasy (95–114). Westport, CT: Praeger. Wright, S. A., & Ebaugh, H. R. (1993). Leaving new religions. In D. G. Bromley, & J. K. Hadden (Eds.), Religion and the social order. The handbook on cults and sects in America (117–138). Vol. 3, part A. Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press. Wright, S. A., & Piper, E. S. (1986). Families and cults: Familial factors related to youth leaving or remaining in deviant religious groups. Journal of Marriage & the Family, 48, 15–25. Zablocki, B. (1997). The blacklisting of a concept: The strange history of the brainwashing conjecture in the sociology of religion. Nova Religio, 1, 96–121. Zablocki, B. (1998). Exit cost analysis: A new approach to the scientific study of brainwashing. Nova Religio, 1, 216–249. Zablocki, B. (2001). Toward a demystified and disinterested scientific theory of brainwashing. In B. Zablocki & T. Robbins (Eds.), Misunderstanding cults: Searching for objectivity in a controversial field (159–214). Canada: University of Toronto Press.

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Carmen Almendros, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Biological and Health Psychology Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Her doctoral dissertation included four theoretical and four empirical sections devoted to: psychological abuse in group contexts, cult involvement; leaving cults; and psychological consequences of abusive group membership. She is currently principal researcher of a project entitled: ―Psychological abuse, influence and adaptation to violence in partner relationships‖ financed by the Comunidad de Madrid and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (CCG07-UAM/HUM-1942). She was the 2005 recipient of ICSA's Margaret Singer Award, given in honor of her research into the development of measures relevant to cultic studies. José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D., is Full Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology and past Head of the Department of Biological and Health Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid. His work focuses in the areas of Psychopathology and Clinical and Health Psychology. He is Past President of the European Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Therapies (EABCT). He has directed numerous Doctoral Theses and is author of an important number and variety of articles and books in his areas of specialization. He has organized and participated in numerous national and international psychology congresses, among which stands out his participation as President of the Scientific Committee at the "23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology" held in Madrid in 1994. He is member of the Editorial Boards of several national and international journals. Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Psychology, Social Movements, and Legal Psychology at the University of Barcelona (Spain). From 1999 to 2008 he was Director of the Social Psychology Department. During the 1980s, before and after a 1985 internship at ICSA, he worked with families and victims affected by cult membership. He then worked as a professor at the University of Barcelona, where he completed a doctoral dissertation in 1991 on psychology of coercive persuasion. During recent years he has extended this line of research, linking it to other contexts (e.g., domestic, work, school) where manipulation and psychological violence may occur. His publications include the book, El Lavado de Cerebro: Psicología de la Persuasión Coercitiva. (Brainwashing: Psychology of Coercive Persuasion). Manuel Gámez-Guadix, M.S., is a Doctoral student in the Clinical and Health Psychology Department at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. His research interests include parenting, marital conflict, and psychological abuse in intimate relationships and cultic groups. Correspondence: Carmen Almendros, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco – 28049 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected].

This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Review 2009, Volume 8, Number 2, pages 111-138. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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A Single-Case Design Implementing Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with an Ex-Cult Member Robert R. DeYoung, Ed.D. The Family Center for Behavioral Health Abstract This single case study used a repeated-measures design with an ex-Jehovah‘s Witness who was treated with EMDR over a two-month period. A follow-up session was conducted one year later, which indicated that all targeted gains remained. A brief background relevant to a 37-year-old female who was ―disfellowshipped‖ by her entire support network and family after 28 years served as a backdrop for treatment. A limited review of criteria related to cult-like behaviors and attitudes commonly exhibited by Jehovah‘s Witnesses (JWs) is included. Symptoms relevant to Post-Cult Trauma Syndrome (PCTS), as defined by Singer (1979), are addressed via the Validity of Cognitions Scale (VOC) and the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) used by practitioners of EMDR. In addition, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) were implemented to further assess intervention results. All measures revealed significant improvement in targeted symptoms following this brief, short-term treatment. Follow-up results indicated symptoms did not reoccur. By 1997, Francine Shapiro‘s1 eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) had already become one of the most popular and well-researched approaches in the field to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment. A relatively simple technique to learn, EMDR utilizes eye movements and cognitive, emotive, and imagery changes in reference to past upsetting events. This approach quickly gained momentum as an innovative clinical treatment that could be applied effectively not only to various forms of trauma but also to depression, phobias, nightmares, grief, and addiction (Shapiro & Forrest, 2004). The actual dynamics of how EMDR works remain debatable (Bruhn, 2008), and there has been criticism about whether or not it is more efficacious than other treatments (Rauch & Cahill, 2003). EMDR, however, has been the subject of many empirically based studies that support it as an effective brief, short-term intervention (Shapiro, 2002) with long-term benefits that appear to last at least as long as any other form of psychotherapy (Tootell, 2004). Many state departments and trauma organizations now accept EMDR as a treatment of choice for trauma victims.2 It is noteworthy, however, that there are virtually no studies that explore the application of EMDR with individuals exiting from cults. We can define the term cult as ―an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment‖ (Zablocki, cited in ICSA, 2008, p. 4). According to the ICSA, the high-demand, leader-centered atmosphere generated in many cults produces social settings that can place such groups at substantial risk of injuring and exploiting its members. Landau, Tobias, and Lalich (1994), in their seminal book on cults, Captive Hearts—Captive Minds, claim many members of cults typically describe themselves as being ―enthralled‖ (p. 11) with an ideal, a group, or a person—usually a leader. The dictionary defines thrall as ―One held in bondage; slave; servitude‖ (American Heritage Dictionary, 2001, p. 851). Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives (Singer & Lalich, 1995) is considered essential reading for individuals who work with cult members. According to Singer, some researchers count religious groups as cults only when followers can, in fact, be Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 20

more clearly identified via ―cultic relationships‖ (p. 7). She claims, however, that the label of cult can more easily refer to three factors: 1.

The origin of the group and role of the leader(s)

2.

The power structure, or relationship, between the leader (or leaders) and the followers…, and

3.

The use of a coordinated program of persuasion (which is called thought reform, or, more commonly, brainwashing) (p. 7).

Singer attempts to explain the ―metamorphosis‖ of how ordinary citizens can be persuaded to leave their everyday lives to become part of groups that carry out acts ranging from bizarre, such as proselytizing door-to-door,3 to unethical and destructive, such as putting their infants‘ lives at risk by kidnapping them from hospitals that offer potentially life-saving blood transfusions. It is difficult to accurately assess the prevalence of cults, but the ICSA does receive thousands of inquiries about various groups that have been the object of critical news reports.4 In 1997 an estimated 2 million to 5 million young adults were involved in cult groups in the United States alone (Robinson, Frye, & Bradley, 1997). This report is consistent with other prevalence research (http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_ topic/tp_prevalence.asp). Jehovah’s Witnesses According to Kim C. Callaghan (1996), JWs naturally deny that they constitute a cult, and they are fairly mainstreamed at this time. Despite their being seen by many as misguided, albeit benign, even well-intentioned nuisances, mainline theologians and mental-health professionals alike may disagree. The following limited criteria, supported by referenced JWs literature, identify only a few of the cult-like behaviors and attitudes sometimes exhibited by JWs: 

JWs leaders (Governing Body) promulgate the belief that they are ―…Jehovah‘s organization alone, in all the earth … the only organization that understands the ―deep things‖ of God!‖ (Watchtower, 1973, p. 402). They believe they are in sole possession of the ―Truth,‖ quite common among cultic groups, and JWs members are not permitted to doubt or question the organization‘s leadership in any way. Examining any information that is critical of the religion is also forbidden. This exclusive so-called knowledge conferred upon the group, to the exclusion of all others is, according to Callaghan, a ―…factor that clearly identifies JWs as a religious cult‖ (p. 1).



The attitude that allows the JWs to operate as pseudo-superior, elevated above the rest of society, is another clear characteristic they hold in common with other cults. The Watchtower (WTBTS) states: ―Jehovah‘s Witnesses invite everyone to … experience the joy that comes not only from having found a religion that surpasses all others but from having found the truth!‖ (1995, Vol. 116, No. 7); this ―special status,‖ according to Booth (1991), is a clear marker.



Once a potential convert has progressed past the rhetoric of tolerance and ―openmindedness,‖ tolerance quickly evaporates. Witnesses who come to doubt the veracity of their beliefs, or who dare to disagree with Watchtower teachings, are labeled ―apostates.‖ The Watchtower states: ―Apostate ones are judged with the greatest severity; they are disfellowshipped (excommunicated), no more to act as leaven (an undesirable influence) among God‘s people‖ (WTBTS, 1988).

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

Booth (1991) quotes The Watchtower as warning against ―independent thinking.‖ The convoluted reasoning, often seen in cults is that ―the Devil‖ lures people to ―pursue a course of pride,‖ which leads to insubordination to directives of The Watchtower (1995). Booth claims, ―…if you cannot question or examine what you are taught, if you cannot challenge authority, you are in danger of being victimized and abused‖ (p. 62). He describes the shunning (disfellowship) of anyone who does not strictly adhere to rules within the cult. Even family members are pressured to engage in the shunning that disfellowshipped Witnesses must endure. JWs explain the abuse in terms of ―keeping the fellowship clean,‖ and it is not uncommon for parents, family, and ―best friends‖ to completely dissociate themselves from loved ones who are disfellowshipped, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Callaghan (1996) claims, ―The organization insinuates itself into salvation, stating that anyone desiring to be saved must learn and practice truth as taught by the faithful and discreet slave, the men at the helm of the Watchtower Society‖ (p. 3); and leaving the group can be traumatic.

Post-Cult Trauma Syndrome Margaret Singer (1979) described the post-cult trauma syndrome (PCTS) that is characterized by an emotional upheaval period after a member exits from a cult. 5 The intense and often-conflicting emotions exiting cult members commonly experience are frequently exacerbated by members‘ grief over the loss of positive elements such as a sense of belonging or personal worth that the group‘s mission or ideals generated. Singer goes on to describe a process in which ex-members pass through stages of accommodation to the change of having left the cult, similar to stages of grief with the loss of a loved one. In some cases, members will return to the cult or experience PCTS. PCTS symptoms include: 

Spontaneous crying



Sense of loss



Depression and suicidal thoughts



Fear that not obeying the cult‘s wishes will result in God‘s wrath or loss of salvation



Alienation from family and friends



Sense of isolation and loneliness as the result of being surrounded by people who have no basis for understanding cult life



Fear of evil spirits taking over one‘s life outside the cult



Scrupulosity; excessive rigidity about rules of minor importance



Panic disproportionate to one‘s circumstances



Fear of going insane



Confusion about right and wrong



Sexual conflicts



Unwarranted guilt

Subject Susan6 first contacted the office complaining of depression and anxiety. She had been being born and raised, over her 28 years, in the JWs ―organization‖ and had recently been ―disfellowshipped‖ for the second time. Before her second disfellowship, which was instituted because of marital infidelity, she had participated in both individual and couples counseling. The counseling had involved three different counselors, for a total of

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approximately 2 years, with minimal benefit. Susan described the previous therapists as ―understanding very little about cults,‖ and they apparently ―didn‘t address any of the real issues I was dealing with.‖ She had a brief voluntary inpatient hospital admission following a suicide gesture in which she ingested pills. She had also been prescribed antidepressants for a total of 3 years with little or no benefit. Susan had been homeschooled, which is common among JWs; and her marriage was, for all intents and purposes, an arranged one. JWs are discouraged from attending college, especially if doing so involves being away from the congregation; so she had no career other than that of homemaker. All her friends, associates, and family members were Witnesses, and she experienced an ―us versus them‖ socialization most of her life. Before her initial treatment session with me, Susan completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). Her total score was 28, 7 which indicates high moderate depression. She completed the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS), 8 as well as the Validity of Cognition (VOC)9 scales typically used in EMDR (Montgomery & Ayllon, 1994). She also completed the Impact of Event Scale (IES) 10 prior to treatment (Horowitz, Wilmer, & Alvarez, 1979). According to DSM-IV-TR (2000), Susan could clearly be diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent, Moderate: 296.32; she could also qualify for a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: 309.81. In terms of Singer‘s symptoms relevant to Post Cult Trauma Syndrome (PCTS), Susan checked off the following: sense of loss; depression and suicidal thoughts; fear that not obeying the cult‘s wishes will result in God‘s wrath or loss of salvation; alienation from family and friends; sense of isolation, loneliness due to being surrounded by people who have no basis for understanding cult life; scrupulosity, excessive rigidity about rules of minor importance; panic disproportionate to one‘s circumstances; confusion about right and wrong; sexual conflicts; and unwarranted guilt (10 out of 13 items on the list). I used Singer‘s criteria to determine the focus of treatment. Because the behavioral targets of my intervention were occurring frequently enough to be measured regularly, I rated Susan‘s symptoms at the beginning of each session via the aforementioned methods. Method This study utilized an AB design in which I recorded a single baseline (A) and then implemented a treatment (B). Following the baseline measurement, I recorded three intervention measurements and three follow-ups, over a period of 2 months. I conducted one additional follow-up session 1 year after the last treatment session. It is not unusual for EMDR to work so rapidly that the actual intervention phase covers only a few sessions. EMDR protocol is as follows: 1. Specific Instructions: Explaining how EMDR works. 2. Presenting Issue or Memory: Identifying the most salient/upsetting thing the patient can recall relevant to the presenting problem. 3. Picture: Asking the patient, ―What picture (mental image) represents the worst part of the incident?‖ 4. Negative Cognition (NC): Having the patient come up with an ―I‖ statement in the present tense—a presently held, negative, self-referenced belief. (A list of examples can be supplied, from which the patient can choose, such as ―I don‘t deserve love; I am a bad person; I am not in control; or I cannot trust anyone.‖)

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5. Positive Cognition (PC): Having the patient offer a presently desired, self-referencing belief. (Examples of such PCs are ―I am lovable; I deserve to live; it‘s over; I am safe now.‖) 6. VoC (Validity of Cognition): Occurring on the scale of 1 to 7 relevant to how true the PC feels to the patient. (This score increases as the patient improves; e.g., Q: ―On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 feels completely false and 7 feels completely true, how true does the statement, ‗I am safe now‘ feel to you when you bring up the scene of waiting for the ambulance at the Kingdom Hall?‖). 7. Emotions/Feelings: Identifying current feelings the incident and the NC bring up. 8. SUDS: Rating how disturbing the incident feels now (this score decreases as the patient improves). 9. Location of Body Sensation: Identifying where in his/her body the patient feels the disturbance. 10. Desensitization: Asking the patient to bring up the picture, the NC, and to notice where he/she feels it in his/her body. I asked Susan to complete the SUDS, VoC, BDI-II, and IES before the beginning of each session; so her first recorded level of symptoms was actually prior to EMDR. Results Despite the fact that Susan had previously participated in rather extensive therapy, including psychiatric medication, she verbalized little relief from her symptoms. As noted, she had been disfellowshipped for the second time and had ―officially‖ been out of the JWs for approximately 6 months at the time we initiated the first EMDR session. As you can see from Table 1, her response to the EMDR was so dramatic that, within only three sessions, her presenting symptoms were well on their way to being resolved. It is important to note, however, that Susan chose to work on quite a few social and occupational issues, which we did not address in EMDR, following this study. During Susan‘s EMDR sessions, she decided to choose the past suicide attempt as something that depicted an ―old issue or memory‖ of her cult experience. The word picture that represented the worst part of that memory was ‖…having taken the pills, sitting on the bathroom floor of the Kingdom Hall.‖ Her Negative Cognition was ―I‘m helpless‖; her Positive Cognition was ―I‘m in control.‖ Susan‘s treatment rapidly progressed, and, as Table 1 reflects, her Subjective Units of Distress—SUDS (how upsetting the old memory was) reduced to 0, while her Validity of Cognition—VoC (how true her positive cognition ‗felt‘) increased to 7; both measurements were in the desired direction. Table 1 Results of First Three Sessions of EMDR Measurement BDI-II IES VoC SUDS

11

Measurements and Sessions (1) (2) 28 19 38 20 2 4 9 2

(3) 5 8 7 0

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Table 2, following, reveals that Susan improved in virtually every target area. Her BDI-II score remained within the nonclinical area, as did the IES. Follow-up 1 year later confirmed that the specific targeted benefits remained. We could compare the baseline to each intervention mean using a paired samples t-test, calculated separately per outcome variable; inferences, however, may not have been statistically meaningful because this study included only one baseline measurement. A repeated baseline might possibly have yielded more of a workable statistic. That option was not practical, however, for this design. As a result, this study is presented as largely anecdotal in nature. Discussion Susan‘s progress by way of EMDR was very significant, considering her heretofore lack of progress via ―traditional‖ treatment methods. There is no way to determine what, if any, latent learning may have occurred before her EMDR sessions; and this outcome must certainly not be seen as a ―born again‖-like experience. Understandably, the limits of having only one subject, with only one baseline measurement, severely restrict generalization of these results. In addition, Susan verbalized that she had ―officially‖ been out of the cult for approximately 6 months prior to her EMDR treatment. During the interview, no other obvious extraneous variables appeared to account for the positive results. Table 2 Results of Entire EMDR Treatment and Follow-up

It is important to note that this patient, born in a cult and having spent so many years raised in the cult setting, felt rather skeptical about EMDR. Cult members frequently remain afraid of any type of procedure that hints of ―mind control‖ or hypnosis-like techniques, and it is important to emphasize that EMDR has very little in common with either of these approaches. EMDR addresses this type of concern by making available abundant empirically-based studies to any inquisitive person. In addition, EMDR offers literature and clarification that explains that ―it is your (the patients‘) brain doing the healing—you are the one in control‖ at all times (Shapiro & Forrest, 2004). And this protocol is usually read and explained to every patient before they are considered for EMDR. I also encouraged Susan to research the topic on the Internet before we initiated her sessions. She did relate that she participated in some support groups, and in conferences for exiting cult members, following her first EMDR sessions. Aside from a history, which the Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 25

patient herself provided, there is no clear way to ascertain what, if anything, may have further influenced the results. There are certainly many more important issues that one also should address when treating exiting cult members (Langone, 1993; Robinson, Frye, & Bradley, 1997). Certain family dynamics (Whitsett & Kent, 2003) and significant grouporiented interventions must be taken into account (Perlado, 2003; Burghoffer, 2004) with exiting members. A multi-modal approach may ultimately prove necessary to effectively intervene with this unique population. I had no way to accurately determine any premorbid characteristics or symptomatology with Susan; and she may have sustained a unique impact by having been raised in a cult (Goldberg, 2006). Finally, despite the remission of the targeted symptoms, previously mentioned, I interviewed Susan several times throughout the years following EMDR, and she described ensuing difficulties. She is an exceptional woman who returned to college and is currently enrolled (at the time I am writing this article). Since the EMDR treatment, Susan has participated in more groups for exiting cult members. Unfortunately she lost primary custody of her child, and she remains in supportive counseling through the present. The results of this case, however, should lead clinicians to seriously consider the use of EMDR as a protocol, or at least an adjunct, in successfully treating any exiting cult members. And there is certainly a need for additional, well-controlled studies that explore this seemingly effective intervention technique. End Notes [1]

Francine Shapiro, originally a cognitive behavior therapist, developed EMDR as the result of her own scare with cancer. [2]

Go to http://www.emdr.com/efficacy.htm for a more extensive efficacy/validation overview of EMDR. [3]

Interviews with ex-JWs clarify that a detailed record of hours spent going door-to-door, as well as of pieces of literature distributed, must meet certain standards; otherwise, members are reprimanded by the elders, and privileges are removed. [4]

For a summary of prevalence, see http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_topic/tp_prevalence.htm.

[5]

You can access this information, http://www.refocus.org/postcult.html.

and

more,

via

the

reFOCUS

network

Website

at

[6]

The patient‘s identity, as well as any other distinguishing characteristics, have been changed to protect confidentiality. [7]

The BDI-II is a popular, reliable, and valid measure of depression; it has a test-retest stability of .93 when taken at 1-week intervals, and the Total Scores are interpreted as follows: 0–13 minimal; 14–19 mild; 20–28 moderate; and 29–63 severe. [8]

A 0–10 scale, on which 0 represents no disturbance, to 10, which represents the worst disturbance the patient can imagine. J. Wolpe, M. D., originally developed this concept (Wolpe, 1974). [9]

A self-report scale from 1 to 7, on which 1 represents totally unbelievable, to 7 which represents totally believable. F. Shapiro, Ph. D., developed this concept [10]

A self-report Likert-type scale, developed by M. Horowitz, N. Wilmer, and W. Alvarez, is a measure of subjective stress and ranges from 1—―not at all‖ to 4—―often‖; the scores are interpreted as follows: 0–8 Sub Clinical; 9–25 Mild; 26–43 Moderate; more than 43 Severe. [11]

Note that the first measurement was taken just before the first EMDR session.

References The American Heritage Dictionary (2001). (4th ed., Rev.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

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American Psychiatric Association (Ed.). (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (Eds.). (1996). BDI-II: Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, Harcourt Brace & Company. Booth, L. (1991). When God Becomes a Drug: Breaking the Chains of Religious Addition and Abuse. Los Angeles, Ca: Jeremy P. Tarcher. Bruhn, A. R. (2008). What makes EMDR work? PsycCRITIQUES, 53(30). Burghoffer, K. (2004). Cults: Membership, Effects and Treatment. (Doctoral dissertation, Widener U, Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology, 2004). Callaghan, K. C. (1996). An examination of cult-type behaviors exhibited by Jehovah‘s Witnesses. Retrieved from http://home.sol.no/~janish/wteng/cultic 1.htm Goldberg, L. (2006). Raised in cultic groups: the impact on the development of certain aspects of character. Cultic Studies Review, 5(1), 1–28. Horowitz, M., Wilmer, N., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of event scale: A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41(3), 209–218. International Cultic Studies Association. (2008). International Cultic Studies Association: Goals, Programs, Achievements [Brochure]. Retrieved from http://www.icsahome.com Landau Tobias, M., & Lalich, J. (1994). Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships. Alameda: Hunter House Inc. Langone, M. D. (1993). Exiting Counseling: A Practical Overview. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co. Montgomery, R. W., & Ayllon, T. (1994). Eye movement desensitization across images: A single case design. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25, 23–28. Perlado, M. (2003). Clinical and diagnostic issues of cultism: Group dependence disorder. Cultic Studies Review, 2(2). Rauch, S. M., & Cahill, S. P. (2003). Treatment and prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Primary Psychiatry, 10(8), 60–65. Robinson, B., Frye, E. M., & Bradley, L. J. (1997). Cult affiliation and disaffiliation: Implications for counseling. Counseling and Values, 41(2), 166–173. Shapiro, F. (1997) EMDR: Setting the record straight. PsycCRITIQUES, 42(4), 363–364. doi:10.1037/005088. Shapiro, F. (2002). EMDR 12 years after its introduction: Past and future research. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(1), 1–22. doi:10.1002/jclp.1126. Shapiro, F., & Forrest, M. S. (2004). EMDR: The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books. Singer, M. Thaler, & Lalich, J. (1995). Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives. San Francisco: Josey-Bass. Singer, M. Thaler (1979). Coming out of cults. Psychology Today, (Jan), 75. Tootell, E. (2004). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: A comprehensive literature review. Dissertation Abstracts International, 2004–99014–203, 455. Watchtower (1973), Praise Jehovah with His people. (July), Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Watchtower (1988), Discipline can yield peaceable fruit. (April), Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Watchtower (1995). What Good Can Come from Discussing Religion? (Vol. 116, No. 7). Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Whitsett, D., & Kent, S. A. (2003). Cults and families. Families in Society, 84(4), 491–502. Wolpe, J. (1974), The practice of behavior therapy (2nd ed.) New York: Pergamon.

Robert R DeYoung, Ed.D., is the Founder and Director of the Family Center for Behavioral Health in Matamoras, Pennsylvania. He also teaches psychology at the State University of New York, Orange, and he is an instructor at the Police Chief‘s Association, Police Academy in New Windsor, NY. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Review 2009, Volume 8, Number 2, pages 139-153. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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Terrorist Organizations Are Cults Masoud Banisadr United Kingdom Abstract In this paper, I attempt to show that there is a difference between an act of terrorism and a terrorist organization. Therefore each should be dealt with differently. I further argue that a terrorist organization is a cult or must change into a cult in order to survive. Therefore, to deal with terrorist organizations we must understand how to deal with cults. The most important action is to take cult members, including radicals and potential recruits of terrorist groups, out of isolation, psychological or physical, rather than push them even more into isolation from wider society. American novelist Mary McCarthy said, ―In violence we forget who we are.‖ When we do forget, we forget what humanity is. Then the life of other human beings becomes as valueless as the life of an insect. This change of perspective happened to me during my membership in an organization that changed from a small guerrilla organization into a popular one, and then into a terrorist group, and eventually into a cult. Based on my experiences and my observations of other members of terrorist and cultic groups, I will in this paper: 1.

Attempt to show that there is a difference between an act of terrorism and a terrorist organization. Therefore, each one should be dealt with differently.

2.

Argue that a terrorist organization is a cult or, if it is not, it has no choice but to change into a cult to survive.

3.

Show that the key to this transformation is isolation of members and creating in them a phobia and paranoia toward the outside world.

4.

Argue that a long-term solution to the issue of terrorism depends on breaking the isolation and the phobia for members and potential recruits. Background

For almost twenty years, I was a supporter, a member, and then a representative of a cult called Mojahedin e Khalq e Iran—in short, MEK (or Mojahedin). This organization is included among the list of terrorist groups in the United States (US) and, until recently, in the European Union (EU). Of course, because MEK‘s terrorism is against the Iranian government, Western nations tend to consider its members good terrorists; therefore, contrary to their label, MEK members have had a free hand to do almost anything in the US and in Europe. When I began introducing myself as a supporter of MEK, neither MEK nor I was who we are now. When the policy of MEK changed solely into violence, we soon both forgot who we were and changed into the opposite of our previous selves. In 1979, I was a 25-year-old Ph.D. student in the Engineering Mathematics department of the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom (UK). I had a very happy life. I was

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married, had a beautiful two-year-old daughter, and was madly in love with my family. Financially, I was from a moderately wealthy family. Politically, I was a liberal in any sense of the word, and therefore against the tyranny of the Shah‘s regime. Although it had a violent history during the Shah‘s era, MEK at that time promoted the slogan, ―Independence, Freedom, and Democracy for Iran.‖ In addition, its members portrayed themselves as the champions of women‘s and minorities‘ rights. After the Iranian revolution of 1979, MEK‘s policy, at least on the surface, was nonviolent—even actively against violence. With its slogans and policy of nonviolence, its past history of struggle against the Shah‘s dictatorship, and about a hundred martyrs, MEK soon changed from a small guerrilla organization into a popular one, able to attract tens of thousands of young people, mainly university and other students and intellectuals, to its public meetings. On the 20th of June, 1981, everything suddenly began to change, and change quickly. In a matter of a year or two, neither MEK nor I were the same as before. To be precise, we both changed into the opposite of our former selves. On that day, Rajavi, the leader of MEK, proud of himself for having converted the organization from at most a few hundred members of a clandestine group into a popular one with tens of thousands of supporters, felt he could be an Iranian Lenin and could repeat the Bolshevik‘s October Revolution. He asked all his members and supporters to pour into the streets of Tehran and other major cities and overthrow the government. He thought when these young students began marching in Tehran, people would follow them and they could have their velvet revolution, forcing the revolutionary government to surrender the leadership of the country to them. Well, members and supporters came, but the rest of the people did not. The result was the arrest and sometimes the execution of hundreds of MEK's young supporters, many of them under 18 years of age. On June 21st, MEK changed from a popular organization into a clandestine, terrorist one, isolated from the wider society. Within a year, MEK lost more than 7,000 of its members and supporters, either in street battles or through executions. At the same time, the group claimed responsibility for the killing of more than 2,000 of the top officials and supporters of the regime.1 In July 1981, Rajavi and many top members of MEK left Iran for refuge in Paris. Four years after leaving for Paris, Rajavi announced his marriage to Maryam, the wife of his First Lieutenant. He also announced the beginning of a process called ―Ideological Revolution,‖ in which he gave all MEK members a ―choice‖: either leave or accept him as ideological, or absolute, leader. Although I was a member of the political section of the organization, I was never involved in MEK‘s violent acts and was never in isolation when the group functioned in Iran. Later, I represented them in the United Nations (UN) and the US. Nevertheless, as a member of a cult, I was changed completely into somebody who was a complete stranger to my past self.2 Terrorism versus Terrorist Organizations I don‘t want to bore you with academic definitions of ―terrorism‖ or ―cult‖ and the differences of opinion that exist among scholars, cultures, and governments on these issues. One can define terrorism as both an ―act-based‖ event (targeting of civilians) as well as [sic] an ―actor-based‖ phenomenon in which non-state actors engage in political violence in order to affect [sic] desired political outcomes. The US State Department acknowledges that there is no single definition of terrorism. It uses the term ―terrorism‖ to mean premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subCultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 29

national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. ―International terrorism‖ means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country. On the other hand, the definitions used by scholars tend to place more emphasis on the intention of terrorists to cause fear and terror among a target audience with the aim of persuasion that transcends the harm caused to the immediate victims.3 If we stick to this term, ―terrorism,‖ and forget about denial, which usually comes when things go wrong or a noisy journalist swims against the current and reveals the truth, or at least part of the truth, then we can call some political organizations and many governments, including some Western governments, terrorists. Therefore, I am going to separate an act of terrorism from labeling an organization as a terrorist group. I will call an organization a terrorist organization if its only tactic, or at least its main tactic, for reaching its goal is an act of terrorism. According to this definition, I will not call any government or popular political organizations, even if they use terrorism to deal with their enemies, terrorists because they are dealing with other problems of society as well; terrorism is not their sole tactic or the pillar of their actions in dealing with their daily problems and objectives. Terrorist Organizations versus Popular Organizations To have a terrorist organization, you need two main ingredients: 1) injustice, and 2) a leader—or better yet, a charismatic leader: ―Injustice emerges when the development of the freedom of an individual or group of individuals is being constrained by another or others, without the existence of a morally justifiable necessity.‖4 In the world in which we live, there is no shortage of serious injustice everywhere we look; still, injustice does not need to be real to actually exist, as long as your audience accepts it as real and serious enough to fight for. Therefore, what is important is not injustice by itself, but the relationship between your audience and their perception of injustice. If you can convince your audience to accept that an injustice exists, and that it is serious enough, then you are on; but the pool you can fish from (i.e., for potential supporters) is limited to those who believe there is injustice and that it is very serious. Therefore, I can say that the difference between different organizations and individuals who feed on the misery of people or on injustice depends on the pool that they fish from. So here is the main difference between a terrorist organization and a popular one that has used or uses tactics of terrorism, but at the same time is dealing with other people‘s problems: A terrorist organization is bound by the morality of its leader, while a popular one is bound to the popular view and the morality of the greater society. When you intend to have the moral and financial support of the majority of ordinary people in your country or within your religion, you must abide by their moral code, and if you intend to take power and rule them, you must have some answers for their other problems, apart from the issue of injustice. The majority of ordinary people do not condone terrorism in all situations, and when they do condone it, it must be within certain norms and conditions. For example, all, or at least most, Muslims accept defensive Jihad.5 Most people anywhere in the world accept this policy in defense of their country against foreign aggression or occupation. And when the country is occupied by outsiders, its people might even accept any kind of defensive method, including terrorist suicide attacks, even against noncombatant occupiers. But they will not always accept such actions, and will not automatically accept the actions without any reservations. This explains why, when we are dealing with Palestinian suicide actions, many Muslims, and even non-Muslims, say they understand why such actions have been taken, although they generally condemn the killing of ordinary people. And they might neither condemn the organization that has committed Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 30

that act, nor consider that organization to be a terrorist group. 6 Even so, if the suicide attack is the only action or tactic that organization uses, and if the group continues using the same tactics without considering any of the moral codes and boundaries of the people as a whole, or any restrictions on the timing of such actions, then again it is very difficult for that organization to hold on to the support of the majority, even within its own group. Now consider Al-Qaeda and the act of terrorism of 9/11. Although the majority of Muslims around the world might not love the United States government and might consider it a bully, still, overall, the majority of Muslims in almost all countries not only condemned the terrorist act of 9/11 from the bottom of their heart, but also recognized Al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization and condemned it vehemently. And this is where we must differentiate the two types of organizations from each other. Al-Qaeda‘s pool for fishing, contrary to some comments in the West, is not in general the ordinary Muslim community. Al-Qaeda has its own pool. And contrary to Palestinian organizations, it doesn‘t need to be bound by the morality of the majority of Muslims. It can even kill Muslims ―in the name of Islam.‖ As a matter of fact, the majority of the victims of Al-Qaeda have been Muslims, not nonMuslims. Look at the events in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan. Al-Qaeda doesn‘t claim to be an alternative to this or that government; therefore, it doesn‘t need to have a solution for other problems of the people, and therefore it doesn‘t need to commit itself to doing other things apart from terrorism under the banner of the Jihad. Looking at these two examples, one can see that the main difference between the two types of organizations is that a popular organization is bound by society‘s morality, while a terrorist organization is free in this sense, and strangely its members are bound instead by the morals or principles of the organization or its leader. In Table 1, you can see other essential differences between the two types of organizations: Change Them or Lose Them At this point, I want to discuss what happens to the morality of the members when the organization transforms from popular to terrorist. If the organization‘s sole or main tactic is terrorism, sooner or later it must begin changing the morality of its members because it cannot match the morality of the society from which they have come. The organization must either change the member‘s morality and belief system or accept factions within and defections from the group on a large scale. During the Shah‘s era, MEK carried out only a few terrorist acts—mainly against American military advisers stationed in Iran, and one or two acts against the Shah‘s top generals. At the time, they were bound by the popular view and moral code; therefore, the group‘s slogan was ―Better a revolutionary killed in vain than he kills an innocent by mistake.‖ 7 During the new phase of the organization‘s actions after the revolution, in isolation from wider society, the extent of MEK‘s terrorism and its moral code changed completely. After the 20th of June, 1981, when its ―velvet revolution‖ failed, MEK changed its tactic and went after the head of the regime.8 By then, the group‘s leaders were thinking that Ayatollahs cannot run the country because they are not sophisticated enough and don‘t know anything about how to run a 20th century country. They were saying to us supporters that the regime has no alternative but to become dependent on imperialism and change into lackeys of America. They were saying the only person within the Iranian establishment who might be able to work with Americans and save the regime from collapsing was Ayatollah Behashtii. Therefore, on the 28th of June, 1981, MEK exploded the centre of the Islamic Republic party and killed Behashtii, along with more than 70 top officials of the new establishment. But because MEK still was a popular organization—or its members still thought so—and their act of terrorism was not against one person, but a building, and they

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didn‘t know who was there and who was not, they therefore never claimed nor denied the operation vehemently and publicly as their own. Table 1: Popular vs. Terrorist Organization Subject Pool Ideology Morality Action and Tactic Organization: Checks and Balances

Finance Answers to Needs of its Audience and Members

What Members Gain

Popular Organization (with acts of terrorism) Society or majority of people. Has shades of gray. Bound to morality of society. Varies, and might include violence. Democratic or semi-democratic. Bound to the view and support of the people, and from within, through the structure of the organization.11 Mainly by society. If you claim to be an alternative (e.g., not a terrorist organization), you must have an answer for other problems of the society; and in the case of members, to be able to face their material needs as well as their moral and emotional ones.

Terrorist Organization (with terrorism as its pillar or only activity) Selected section of the society. Black and white (either with us or against us).9 Bound to the survival of the cult and its leader.10 Only or mainly acts of terrorism. Clandestine organization; self-nominated, dictatorial leader; no checks and balances for the leader.12 In the case of Al-Qaeda, has evolved into some sort of franchise.13

They gain the respect of society and perhaps a job, fame, and public responsibility. They can have family and a normal life in addition to what they are doing.

They lose a normal life, their individuality, and their normal self. They gain equality and even superiority.* Denial of death and fear of pain gives them courage unachievable in ordinary life. They find a sense of belonging and a new collective ‗self‘ and ‗individuality.‘ They are glorified by titles such as hero, Mojahed, vanguard, or martyr.16 *For example, in MEK, the women‘s ranks are higher than the men‘s, and all leadership council members are women. They gained their superiority through selflessness or, as they used to say, through being ‗nothing-ness or nobody-ness‘ more than men. Also, in the case of women suicide bombers, they reach equality and even superiority through death.17

Mainly by members and supporters.14 You educate your audience and members to see injustice as the only real and important matter worth dealing with, and that they have to put everything else aside. Through Mind control, you will control the needs and emotions of your members, forcing them to see the needs of the organization and its leader as their own needs.15

At the same time, they were benefiting from the fruits of the operation, as a display of how powerful they were. But gradually, as they realized that their support was restricted only to their members and organizational supporters, they put their shyness aside, and they claimed all their terrorist activities, including the killing of more than 2,700 people in the two years since the killing of Behashtii and other officials. As an example, I can mention a suicide operation, the killing of Ayatollah Madani, a religious representative of Khomeini in Tabriz,18 and another suicide operation, the killing of Ayatollah Dastghayb, a religious representative of Khomeini, in Shiraz.19 By the way, if I am not mistaken, these are either the first or among the first suicide operations of Muslims in modern times.20 Another significance of this operation at Shiraz was that, for the first time, a female operative and not a male had performed a terrorism act in a Muslim country. Other significant aspects of these operations included: 

Breaking the taboo of suicide. Muslims, like Christians, believe suicide is a great sin, and the one who commits it is worthy of going to hell.



Breaking the principal related to taking no action in public places. Other innocent people were among the deaths.21



The fact that many suicide bombers killed their victims during Friday sermons, where the Mosque and any place in which people pray traditionally are considered as sanctuaries. According to the religious rulings, even churches and synagogues are safe from violence.

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

The fact that they killed a member of the clergy, an Ayatollah, an old noncombatant person—again, along with women and children, all prohibited by Islamic law and principles.22

As you can see, when your tactic and strategy changes to solely terrorism, you cannot be bound by popular morals. At the same time that the group loses the support of wider society, its members and organizational supporters become more important. 23 Then the organization faces this dilemma: What should it do with the morality and beliefs of its members and supporters? After all, they are, or were, ordinary individuals from the same society, bound by the same code of morality and beliefs, and responsible at least in front of their family and friends. The answer for any organization at this point of transition is obvious: ―Change them or lose them.‖ By 1981, there were a few other organizations, some as famous as MEK, such as Fedayyian, who were fighting the Iranian government. They had almost the same history as MEK. But, unlike MEK, they didn‘t change into a cult; as a result, they, along with all the other similar organizations, sooner or later faced division and the loss of most of their members and supporters. All of them were forced to change their strategy and tactics, and some were as decent as to announce their dissolution. MEK, in contrast, instead of changing its strategy and tactics in order to survive as an organization, changed itself into a cult. 24 In isolation from wider society, and through the most sophisticated methods of mind control, it changed the morality and belief system of its members and as a result didn‘t face any division or mass defection.25 By then, we (members and supporters) were changed and were not thinking as ordinary persons or individuals any more, but as members of the organization—or, as we used to call ourselves, Mojahed (literally, struggler). Let me read here what was going on in the mind and heart of one of those members, 24-year-old Gohar Adab-avaz, who killed a religious representative in Shiraz. In this operation, Gohar Adab-avaz, with her suicide attack, killed Dastghaib, the representative of Khomieni in Shiraz, and another 12 people. Before this operation, she wrote in her will: I don‘t think I am the owner of my own existence. My existence belongs to God, people, and the Mojahedin organization. If my life can pave the way (for others), it will be a worthwhile present for this path. I with an awareness and eager decision am waiting for that day. It was written that, till very late the night of the operation, she was helping others to prepare everything for the next day‘s operation. On the day of the operation, before going out, she gave her watch and 14 Tomans of money that she had to her masoul (person in charge of him) and said, ―I know what I am going out for and I have pointed all my attention toward the heart of the enemy.‖ When she was passing under a tray containing the Koran, a mirror, and water, as is the Iranian custom for going on a journey, in this case a journey toward infinity, she kissed the Koran and asked God for help.26 Terrorist Organizations versus Cults I am sure you are well aware of the different definitions that exist for the term cult, and I am not going to bother you with a lengthy discussion about what is and what is not a cult. And to avoid further difference of opinion, I am not going to talk about small, peaceful cults, but extreme ones. Most everyone knows of them and knows how they act. In my view, to have an extreme cult, you must have three main ingredients: 1.

A charismatic leader.

2.

A doctrine, a cause, or an ideology.

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3.

Isolation, psychological and/or physical, from the wider society, or perhaps, as Lifton calls it milieu. In isolation, you can have dependency of group members on the cult or leader, you can have obedience, and eventually you can control the minds of your disciples.

Now, if you compare the main ingredients of both a terrorist organization and an extreme cult, you can see that both share the first two elements; namely, a charismatic leader, and a cause or an ideology. What remains for a terrorist organization to change into an extreme terrorist cult is Isolation from larger society. 27 Hate and Phobia: A Path Toward Absolute Isolation Questions that you might ask concerning the ideology of a terrorist group include the following: Is the ideology of a terrorist organization important and decisive? Is the organization bound by the moral code of that ideology? My answer to the first question is that the type of ideology or doctrine, although it might be important at the beginning for current and potential group members, and could play a decisive role then, gradually it will lose its importance. It is the leader who defines the ideology and where it goes. For example, MEK and Al-Qaeda both have claimed that their doctrine is ―true Islam,‖ and at times they both have demonstrated great dogma regarding the behavior of their members, to fit with Islamic principles concerning individual behavior—things such as not eating pork or drinking alcohol. They also have used the Islamic vocabulary extensively to legitimize their actions, using words like ―lesser Jihad‖ to legitimize terrorism and ―greater Jihad‖ to control the minds and behavior of their members. But at the same time, both have shown that when the principles of Islam are in conflict with the interests of the cult, it is the interest of the cult that comes first. In my view, the main ingredient of the ideology of these groups is to believe in the world of black and white: People, governments, and other organizations are either with them or are against them; there is no grey area. The immediate result of believing in a black and white world is hate, paranoia and phobia. I don‘t think there is any need for me to talk about hate because we have seen more than enough of it in the media, unfortunately sometimes from the liberal side as well (I mean this in terms of the liberal-democracy side, and not of the political position of the politicians or writers or reporters who act as agents of hate in the West). An example is a short, controversial, anti-Islam film made recently in the Netherlands by a member of parliament, Geert Wilders.28 The second result of this ideology is phobia. The difference between phobia and fear, in my opinion, is reflected in two elements: First, fear generally is rational, but phobia as a rule is irrational. Because of this irrationality, it is very difficult to overcome a phobia. When you have a phobia about a mouse or a spider, for example, it is not rational because neither of them is likely to harm you seriously, but still you are horrified by them. This irrationality stops you from facing your fear and finding out the truth of the matter. The second element is disgust. A phobia is a mixture of fear and usually disgust. Both irrationality and disgust, as elements of phobia, force you toward isolating yourself from the so-called enemy and eventually from whoever has some kind of connection with the enemy, and later from whoever doesn‘t think like you. Gradually, you see other people as inhuman or subhuman. In MEK, we used to call them ―ordinary‖ people, and as a result, it was an insult to us to be called ordinary. In a tiny book called Advice to Revolutionary Youth (Rahnamodha‘e be‘a javanan enghalabi), we can see how MEK used to define ―ordinary‖ people. According to this book, ―...[the] mind of those who grew up during the Shah era, through education at school and high school and especially Western programs and movies of television, were educated and directed toward things unrelated to our problems and cultures.

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Gradually they were becoming ‗stupefied‘, ‗narcotised‘, and eventually rotten and corrupt.‖ In the same book, MEK separated us from ordinary people by defining a MEK member as ―Those who have rejected the education which was given to them by the system; they reject fake heroes like Bruce Lee and instead find the real heroes of the people; they read and memorize stories of revolutionaries and Mojahedin, and also they start memorizing and singing revolutionary songs and poems. They learn about the characteristics of Mojahedin and try to duplicate them in their own daily life. Then they face new questions. ‗How can one be?‘, ‗How can one live?‘, and the most important of all, ‗How can one die‘‖ This was the start of a path toward the world of black and white; toward ―either with us or against us,‖ toward hate of outsiders, including one‘s own family and friends, looking at them as animals surrendered to their animal instincts.29 When something disgusts you, you get rid of it or avoid it without thinking; you do it instinctively. This is what happens when terrorists kill ordinary people. They see them as ―sub-human,‖ and so they are disgusted to touch or communicate with them. These ordinary people are those who have either helped the enemy or at least have surrendered themselves to the evil of the time; they are as low as animals or insects, surrendered to their animal instincts. Therefore, their murder is as easy as the killing of an insect and, at most, ―a price‖ (as we used to call it) for freedom, evolution, the happiness of the rest of the people, the glory of your idea, or whatever else you would like to call it. What is important is that you kill them as you kill an insect, without thinking, instinctively. Isolation and Phobia: Key to Changing Organizations into Cults In the Al-Qaeda recruit manual, explained by Timothy Noah, we read: Isolate, Isolate, Isolate! Although recruiters are advised to take care at first not to separate a recruit from his ―family, society, and reality,‖ eventually it becomes necessary to ―create a favorable environment.‖ This is achieved by ―removing him from the bad environment in which he lives‖ and putting him into ―a good environment designed to improve his faith.‖ Until that happens, keep the recruit busy listening to lectures and reading religious pamphlets, especially ―those that discuss Heaven and Hell, eternal paradise or eternal damnation,‖ etc. The manual contains a long list of recommended texts (―The jihadist library is large and full of books that were written with martyrs‘ blood‖), audiotapes, and video clips downloadable from the Web.‖ 30 In isolation, you can change your members‘ principles and beliefs, or, as Schein‘s three steps31 suggest, you can unfreeze their beliefs, change them to what you want, and freeze them again. In isolation, they will not face problematic moral questions and don‘t need to question their new morals and code of practice. Unfortunately, isolation of members and even supporters of a terrorist organization progresses or increases, day by day, from both sides. First, from the organization side: Even if the leader of the organization doesn‘t intend to create a milieu situation for mind control within the organization, just because of the violent nature of the group and its acts of terrorism, it has no alternative but to enforce strong secrecy principles within the group, and control members‘ communications and their relationship with the outside world. At the same time, wider society pushes the members and even supporters of a terrorist organization inward. It does this through the passage of laws, such as the Patriot Act in the United States and the UK's act making ―glorification‖ of terrorism a crime. There has been so much obsessing over terrorism that the media creates an atmosphere of hate, disgust, and fear toward not only terrorists, but even against the minority groups that the terrorists might belong to.

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MEK: Isolating Members and Supporters from the Wider Society From the beginning, the announced sole strategy and tactic of the MEK organization was ―amred [sic] struggle,‖ or in another word, terrorism, even if with a label of revolutionary terrorism or guerrilla war. The relationship of all members to the outside world was highly controlled and under surveillance. Still, for the first few years, many members used to live in their own homes with their own families. Later, with the introduction of terms such as ―collective houses‖ and ―professional revolutionaries,‖ most of the high-ranking members were forced to leave their jobs and their families and live in these collective houses, and to change into professional revolutionaries. After the revolution, as they were looking to gain popular support, many lower-ranking members had to leave their secret lives behind and start communicating with ordinary people, their family, and friends. Therefore, for almost three years (1979–1981), although all members and most of the organizational supporters were ―professional revolutionaries‖ and were not allowed to have private lives of their own, still many could have some sort of relationship with the outside world and ordinary family and friends. Then, from 1981 onward, all members and organizational supporters from both sides gradually were put under pressure to isolate themselves more and more from the outside world and ordinary life. By 1982, even the organizational supporters outside of the country, in Europe and the United States, were forced to leave ordinary life behind, start living in collective houses (called Base), cut their relationships with family and friends (unless for soliciting), and, step by step, use different tricks, including claims of hard work and not having any free time, to look for other sources of information. Their source of information became restricted to the organization‘s sources. 32 Eventually, by 1990, during another phase of ―ideological revolution,‖ all members were forced to divorce their spouses and forget about sex as long as they were alive.33 Phobia and Disgust: Key to Being in Society Yet Isolated from It How can a group let its members live in the society, among ordinary people, behaving normally, even having ordinary relationships with others, and at the same time remain isolated from them? MEK, under its slogan of ―corrupted society,‖ Al-Qaeda with its definition of Jahillyya, Marxist cults under their banner of the bourgeoisie, and, I presume, other cults under different slogans isolate their members from wider society, not only physically but most importantly mentally. Isolation of members sometimes is easy, when you have the luxury of geographical isolation, as Al-Qaeda has in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and MEK has in Iraq. Interestingly, although MEK has lost its mentor and financier, Sadam Hussein, and there is a new government in Iraq in a friendly relationship with Iran, still the organization insists on stationing 3,400 of its remaining members in Iraq and is not ready to move, even to European and American countries!34 The main reason for this insistence on not expanding is that they don‘t want to lose this heavenly isolation; they know very well that in Europe and America they would face many problems keeping their members in isolation. But what about people like me, who had to live outside of Iraq? Here comes the mental isolation. I believe that phobia, paranoia, and disgust are the reasons for mental isolation. Although one lives in the wider society and apparently behaves normally, his inner disgust and phobia toward the enemy and society as a whole will help him to keep his new moral code and beliefs in isolation from the morals of the society as a whole. In other words, one can have an outer personality totally different from the inner one. You hate all relationships outside of the cult; the ordinary behavior of people disgusts you. You have a phobia and paranoia toward the wider society. Still, you can act and behave ―normally‖ as a means to help reach the cult‘s goal. How can you do it? Let me give you an example. I wonder if you have seen one of those TV reality shows that forces people to face their phobias, their disgust, face and even touch Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 36

snakes, for example, or eat disgusting things. In this kind of show, ordinary people face their phobias and disgust, even with a big smile, for the prize established by the program producers. Doing this does not mean the experience will change them, and from the next day they will become a snake catcher or forget about their disgust toward that food. They do it for money. And in cults they do it for the goal of the cult. But at the same time, their phobias and disgust keep them from changing internally. Now let me explain the changes in us, the MEK members, by giving you a few short facts about myself. In 1981, my family and I gave up our private life. We surrendered all our belongings to the organization and started living in the collective houses. In 1982, to help the organization, I lied to my beloved parents for the first time. I said I had a brain tumor, to get money for my treatment, without thinking of how much pain they suffered as a result of this news [breaking moral codes of our society and family]. In 1985, I burned all my past history, including my private photos, and my writings—even my dissertation and thesis [breaking the few emotional links to the past, or, as we used to call it, destroying our bridges behind us]. Next affected was my love for family and friends. As long as I can remember, I had loved my mother more than anybody else. In 1985, when I heard about her sudden death, not only could I not mourn for her, but I was not able to shed even a few teardrops because doing so was a sign of attachment to family and friends. Then, in 1986, after my wife left the organization, I stopped seeing her, although I loved her very much. Eventually, in 1991, MEK went through another ―ideological revolution‖ phase, during which all members were asked to divorce our spouses, not only in reality but in our minds and hearts. Even those who had already lost their spouses had to go through this phase and divorce their loved ones in their memories and emotions. The expression at the time was that being touched by our spouses was like sleeping with or being touched by the body of a dead person that had been rotten for a few months. Being in Society Yet Isolated from It At the time, the story of divorce for all members within MEK was a secret. They didn‘t want anybody outside of the cult to know about it. At the same time, I was the group‘s representative in the UN and the US. They were very much worried that my wife would find out about the MEK divorce requirement and announce it publicly, which could greatly restrict the group politically. Therefore, they asked me to go to London, visit my family (after a few years of not having seen them), buy them presents, take them to the park, even make love with my wife—all with the condition that I control my emotions and feelings and not fall for them. To the contrary, I was to hate every minute of it because whatever I was doing was completely opposite to the common behavior of the organization‘s members. I think that was the most difficult job I ever did while I was a member of MEK. I was under immense pressure from both sides. My feelings toward my family still were not completely dead, and at the same time I had to show love and care without feeling love, but, to the contrary, feel disgust. I did so only through remembering the teachings of the organization about this issue. Disgust and phobia (toward becoming an ordinary person and eventually betraying the ―Resistance‖ and falling for the enemy) were helping hands to keep me away from returning to my old self. Apart from the phobia of and disgust toward becoming an ordinary person with ordinary emotions and feelings, cults create a phobia toward their enemy. MEK in one stage created this phobia toward imperialism and the United States, and in another phase toward the Iranian regime. I remember when, the first time I travelled to the United States and had to meet members of Congress, I still was suffering from that phobia toward them. While I was as full of charm as possible, shaking hands and showing a smile, inside, my feeling was disgust. Phobia and disgust help cults to keep their members isolated from wider society and their enemy, engulfed in their own teachings and propaganda. In addition, you have to Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 37

realize that phobia and isolation have a resonant effect on each other: An increase in one will intensify the other; in turn, that strengthening will increase the first one. Isolation and phobia are keys to what Lifton calls milieu control, and I believe that, besides having a charismatic leader, milieu control of members is the key to having a cult, or to changing a group into an extreme cult. What Can Be Done? Whenever we face terrorism, immediately we face two questions: First, Why—why do people join terrorist organizations? My answer is simple: injustice. Find the root of injustice and destroy it, and you have destroyed that which fuels the ideology of terrorism. But unfortunately, I think as long as we have not attained a perfect world, there always will be some sort of injustice present in different parts of the world. It will be impossible to dry out the roots of injustice and, hence, the roots of some sort of terrorism. Therefore, the second question is: What can be done against terrorism? Until now, Western governments‘ policies, especially US and UK policies toward Al-Qaeda, have centered around either: 1.

Violence against violence. Examples are in Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As a result, not only has Al-Qaeda not diminished but instead has flourished. The group proclaims that its struggle has changed from offensive to defensive, in this way hoping to be acceptable to many Muslims.35

2.

Compromising liberal values such as ―freedom of speech‖ or ―presumed innocent till proven guilty,‖ and ―not committing torture.‖ Recent laws in the US and the UK against terrorism, such as the Patriot Act and the Terrorism Act 2006, which includes a section against the ―glorification of terrorism,‖ are examples. The AbuGhoraib and Guantanamo Bay disasters are symbols of these policies. Others include creating more hate and phobia among young Muslims living in Europe and the US, forcing them into even more mental isolation. Breaking the Spell of Isolation and Phobia

If isolation and phobia are key to a cult‘s success in keeping its members and recruits within, surely breaking the power of these factors is the key to saving these individuals from destroying themselves and damaging others. I understand that doing this is not as easy as saying it. To solve this problem, I think we must separate short-term solutions of the problem from long-term solutions. Facing an immediate and real threat against civilians might force us to use an iron fist. But we have to be aware that this approach is not part of an enduring solution; moreover, on many occasions, it acts against the solution to the problem, as it did in the case of MEK during the 1980s in Iran, when the Iranian government wanted to solve the problem with an iron fist. The result then was to push us supporters even deeper into the organization and to give MEK‘s leaders even more ammunition with which to continue the work of its propaganda machine. Also, we have to realize that when we arrest terrorists, we are not dealing with common criminals! Do you remember the case of Patty Hearst?36 We are dealing with brainwashed people, and we have to help them rather than punish them. How can we punish people who are welcoming death and pain? Let me give you two examples: (1) The case of Khalid Shikh Mohammad, who pled guilty in order to be executed by the United States and become a martyr. Now what do you want to do with him? If you accept his confession, you have to accept that he is guilty for 9/11 and kill him, making him a martyr—the best prize that you can give to him and Al-Qaeda. If you do not consider him guilty, what was the purpose of his trial in the first place? (2) The case of an MEK member. He was under 18 when he was arrested during an armed struggle. The Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 38

penalty for MEK membership and armed struggle in Iran was execution; therefore, his execution was certain. But in this case, the court was more interested in not killing him, to avoid negative propaganda for Iran and to stop MEK from benefiting from the execution of its members and having a new martyr to celebrate. Consider what he said in the court, from an MEK publication: In his trial, Daryosh Salhshoor; said: ―...I was one of those who fought with the Shah‘s regime and stood against military tanks. The only thing which forced me to take arms and stand (against this regime) was to believe in Mojahedin, which I had and I have and I will have till my last drop of blood. According to this belief I could feel that the present regime has chosen to have the same direction as America. As I am bloody against Americans and I will be, I took arms and this is the reason of this trial.... Here whoever believes in this path is called Moharab (fighting against God), but I don‘t care, as from the beginning when I chose this path, I was ready for any accusations, I am a follower of Imam Hussein; they accused him in Karbela, as well. They called Prophet Mohammed mad, and Imam Ali apostate. Why should I be afraid of anything as I am following their path! You can execute me, you can call me ... I know the verdict of this court; I know the chance of my execution is 100 percent. Many of my friends were executed too; I will go toward them...‖37 He said all of this when he was asked by the judge to say something that would make the court lenient, to pardon him because he was under eighteen. A long-term solution for this problem requires new laws—not laws that compromise our values,38 but laws that recognize the problem of cults and mind control, laws that put a stop to modern slavery. By law we can stop people from committing suicide. Why can‘t we stop them from killing their individuality? Is the killing of your personality and individuality less criminal than the killing of your body? At the same time, we have to educate people, especially the Muslim minority, about the cultic character of terrorist organizations. We have to let both them and wider society understand that this issue is neither about Islam nor any other religion or ideology, nor is it about the injustices that people suffer around the world. It is about mind control and those who benefit from the misery of others. The media can play a great role in solving this problem, or they can make it worse. Let me give you an example: Recently, during Israel‘s attack on Gaza, there were demonstrations in different cities of the UK, including one that I attended in a small city north of the UK. To my surprise and the organizer‘s surprise, there were more than 2,000 demonstrators. Later that evening, I was expecting to hear about that demonstration on the BBC local news, but, surprise, there was no mention of it at all. I don‘t want to mention the other news of that evening to explain the silence policy of the media. The BBC in this case went as far as rejecting even the government‘s call to broadcast an appeal to help Gaza‘s victims. Even if one has less sympathy toward the Palestinian cause than I do, there are many other incontrovertible injustices in the Middle East. In my view, the media in the West, with their unbalanced reports of news about injustices, can and will help terrorist organizations to recruit. And terrorists should thank them greatly. When we employ a different tactic, it works. When we accept the reality of injustice, and talk about it, this approach shows another possible avenue apart from terrorism that we can take to face this problem. For example, Channel 4 in the UK, just by showing some fairness toward what is happening in the Middle East, has slowed the attraction of young Muslims in the UK toward extremism.

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What I am trying to say is that, to confront cults, you have to take them out of isolation. Force them to abide by the moral code of the majority and to be dependent upon the support of the majority. Even financial isolation will not work. To the contrary, the dependency of these organizations on ordinary people will force them out of their isolation and force them to change themselves. This dependency will restrict them and their tactics to the morals of the majority, while their independence means they will depend on their members, which will result in more exploitation of them, more brainwashing, and more extremism. End Notes [1]

The MEK publication, Mojahed, 4th of July, 1983, announced the number of people killed by MEK at 2,800. Mojahed, 8th of September, 1983, announced the names and particulars of 7,746 people, members and supporters of MEK and other organizations, killed either via armed struggle or by firing squads. If you are interested in knowing more about MEK, I can suggest two books. One is by Professor Ervand Abrahamian, called Iranian Mojahedin; the second, called Masoud, Memories of an Iranian Rebel, I have written. [2]

See Alan B. Krueger and Jitka Malekova, ―Education, Poverty, Political Violence, and Terrorism: Is there a Causal Connection?‘‖ NBER working paper, July 2002, 4. Cited from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom. [3]

See Terror and Terrorism: A History of Ideas and Philosophical-Ethical Reflections, by Brig. Gen. Edwin R. Micewski, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, National Defence Academy, Vienna. Cited from Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, Special Issue: Terrorism. pp. 234, 238. [4]

―Theological opinions (fatwas) expressed by the religious authorities declare that it is permissible to put to death people who are, either directly or indirectly, involved with powers that repress Muslims. These religiously motivated opinions also state that it is permissible to kill Muslims who help to enslave their brothers in religion.‖ See Suicide Bombers; Allah’s New Martyrs, by Farhad Khosrokhavar, p. 68. [5]

―Martyrdom operations‖ in many cases are deemed the only answer to opposing the vastly superior military capabilities of the other side. In the words of the founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yasin (assassinated by Israel in March 2004): ‖Once we have warplanes and missiles, then we can think of changing our means of legitimate self-defence. But right now, we can only tackle the fire with our bare hands and sacrifice ourselves‖ (The Daily Star, Beirut, Feb. 8, 2002). Sheikh Lutfullah of Lebanon‘s Hizb‘allah (party of God) echoed Yasin‘s sentiment after the 1983 bombing of the US Marines‘ barracks in Lebanon when he commented, ―Oppressed people cannot always be expected to behave in a reasonable manner.‖ (Great Decisions ‗86, New York: Foreign Policy Association, p. 36; cited from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom, p. 4.) [6]

―Would the guerrilla fighters kill anyone other than the blasphemous armed oppressors? Never!‖ (The statement of the Mojahedin in response to the recent accusations of the Iranian regime [i.e., Shah‘s regime]; First edition, 1977; p. 15.) [7]

―The Mojahedin countered state terror with its own brand of ‗revolutionary terror.‘ Rajavi, from his Paris exile, denounced all high-ranking officials as ‗collaborators with tyranny,‘ and as such deemed them appropriate targets for ‗revolutionary justice‖ (M. Rajavi, ―Message to the Collaborators,‖ Nashrieh 8, 9 October, 1981). Meanwhile, Khiabani, now leading the clandestine network, launched military operations. By the autumn of 1981, the Mojahedin were carrying out daily attacks assassinating officials, ambushing Pasdars [revolutionary guards], and throwing bombs at komiteh centers, IRP offices, and homes of prominent clerics. These attacks, according to a government report published in mid-November, took the lives of 504 Pasdars (Iran Times, 20 November, 1981).... The Mojahedin also carried out a series of daring suicide attacks—what can be best described as ‗propaganda by deed.‘ On 6 July, a Mojahedin band outside Amol, dressed as Pasdars ambushed and killed Hojjat al-Islam Shariati-Fard, the chief prosecutor of Gilan. On 4 August, another Mojahedin band assassinated Dr. Ayat in broad daylight in the middle of Tehran... On 11 September, a 22-yearold Mojahed, attempting the Friday prayer at Tabriz, walked up to Ayatollah Baha al Din Madani, the [8]

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city‘s Imam Jom‘eh, and exploded two hand grenades, killing himself, his intended victim, and 17 pasdars.... On 29 September, another Mojahed blew up himself and Hojjat al-Islam Hasheminezhad, the IRP leader in Khorasan. This Mojahed was a 17-year-old high-school student who had joined the organization during the street demonstrations of 1978. On 8 December, a 21-year-old woman killed herself and Ayatollah Abol Hosayn Dastghayb, The Iam Jom‘eh of Shiraz, by walking up to him after his Friday sermon and exploding a hand grenade hidden under her full chador.... The assassination campaign continued into 1982. On 26 February, a 20-year-old Mojahed shot dead Hojjat al Islam Mostawfi Hojjati just as he was concluding his Friday prayer.... On 7 March, another young Mojahed, armed with a machine gun, successfully ambushed the country‘s chief of police in the middle of Tehran.... On 15 April, a 15-year-old Mojahed threw a hand grenade at Hojjat al - Islam Ehsanbaksh, the Imam Jomeh of Rasht. On 2 July, a 22-year-old Mojahed, attending Friday prayer in Yazd, detonated a hand grenade, killing himself, 13 Pasdars, and Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Sadduqi, the city‘s Imam Jom‘eh and one of Khomeini‘s closest advisors.... On 15 October, a 20-year-old college student, chanting pro-Khomeini slogans, exploded a hand grenade just as he embraced Ayatollah Etaollah Ashrafi, the Imam Jom‘eh of kermanshah...‖ (Ervand Abrahamian, Iranian Mojahedin, pp. 220, 222). Strangely, President Bush gave the same slogan on 20th February, 2001, and also labeled his ―war against terrorism‖ a crusade, both of which fell into the hands of Al-Qaeda. Many Muslims saw the ―war against terrorism‖ as a ―war against Islam.‖ [9]

One Al-Qaeda ideologue, to justify the group‘s black and white ideology and the killing of other Muslims, states: ―A vanguard must set out ... marching through the vast ocean of Jahillyya [ignorance, implying that ordinary people are not Muslim but ignorant. If you look at Jahillyya throughout Islamic history and philosophy, it has a much deeper meaning, but let us for now stick to this simple definition.], which encompasses the whole world. Unless they separate themselves from the influence of the Jahillya they will be contaminated and unable to follow the true path followed by the Salaf. [Salaf means ancestor, but here he means prophet and the first few of his disciples. By the way, this is why Wahabiis don‘t like to call themselves Wahabii but prefer to be called Salafii instead; this includes all Al-Qaeda members. Anyway, let me continue...] We must free ourselves from the clutches of the Jahili society … it is not a worthy partner for compromise. Our aim is first to change ourselves so we may later change society. (Cited from AL-Qaeda, by Jason Burke, pp. 54, 55.) Micewski explains: ―Whilst terrorism is not bothered about either morality—moral law—or the public law that rests upon it, terrorism does not hesitate to go public with claims that are devoid of any moral or legal claim.‖ (from Terror and Terrorism: A History of Ideas and Philosophical-Ethical Reflections, by Brig. Gen. Edwin R. Micewski, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, National Defense Academy, Vienna. Cited from Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, Special Issue: Terrorism, p. 224.) [10]

[11]

In a little book called Democratic Centralism, MEK (when it was a popular organization) outlined its form of organization. In that book was mentioned that ―MEK is against one-man leadership and it believes if the organization is being led by just one person, it will end up in some sort of dictatorship.‖ The book‘s formula for leadership of the organization was a committee of highest experts or vanguards of the group. At least as long as the group had popular support inside Iran, even if the organization was a one-man show, still it pretended that it was run by a group of vanguards, called Daftar Siasi or the political bureau, and it seemed that these people were controlled by a central committee. Then, after MEK left the country, on its path toward changing into a cult, first in 1981, it introduced a new title called Masoul Aval, or ―first person in charge,‖ who was Masoud Rajavi. Then, at the end of its transformation into a cult, in 1985, MEK, by announcing Rajavi‘s marriage to Maryam Azdanlo, wife of his First Lieutenant Abrishamchii, announced a new era in the life of the organization, which joined the ideological leadership of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi. Later, Abrishamchii, in his famous speech that became a book explaining the ideological revolution of MEK, announced that anybody within the organization has a masoul or a person in charge, except for the Rajavies, who are not responsible in front of anybody except God. Later, in 1990, during another phase of the organization‘s ―Ideological Revolution,‖ all members, apart from divorcing their spouses, had to go through a procedure called ―Signature of Sins.‖ This meant that they had to accept all the sins of their leader as their own, or accept all his sins except one, the armed struggle against the Khomeini regime. I believe that now, by surrendering all their weapons to the American Army and under pressure from the EU and having to announce the end of the armed struggle, they have to accept this ―sin‖ of their leader, as well. As you can see, in losing their popular support, the MEK had to move Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 41

step by step from being a terrorist-political organization into being a cult, with no checks and balances for the leadership. Abrishamchii, First Lieutenant of Rajavi, in his speech about ideological revolution, emphasized: ―As it was mentioned in the political bureau communiqué, all those below the ideological leader are conditioned to their immediate masoul (superior or person in charge). But Masoud Rajavi, at the top of the organization, is conditioned to whom or answerable to whom? Nobody but God. And Maryam as co-leader has no superior but God, as well as Masoud Rajavi. MEK‘s published speech of Abrishamchii, about ideological revolution, pp. 47, 48. [12]

[13]

―Al Qaeda operates globally and independently of states. They take state support when they can get it, but they are not manipulated directly by states, and that makes them particularly dangerous. Al Qaeda is less like a state and more like an NGO [non-government organization] with multiple independent franchises. Its terrorists can strike—whether in Bali, Casablanca, Riyadh, Istanbul, Madrid, or New York and Washington—without the direct support of states. These franchises are likely to survive the death of its ―corporate parent.‖ Al Qaeda is no longer a regular terrorist organization that can be defeated by killing or capturing its leader; it is a global insurgency that spreads revolutionary fervour throughout the Muslim world. We can target its operatives, but its ideas and inspiration are ultimately far more dangerous. Bruce Hoffman has identified four different types of al Qaeda operatives.‖ (Excerpted from Hoffman, ―The Leadership Secrets of Osama Bin Laden.‖) This has been cited from ‗Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom; But the whole article can be found in http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200304/hoffman ; Bruce Hoffman is the director of the Rand Corporation's Washington, D.C., office and the author of Inside Terrorism (1999). These four types of operatives include ―1) Professional cadres. The most dedicated element of al Qaeda. Teams are carefully selected, provided with specific instructions, and generously funded. 2) Trained amateurs. For example, Ahmed Ressam, arrested in December 1999 at Port Angeles, Washington after entering the United States from Canada with explosive materials in the trunk of his car. Ressam had some background in terrorism.... Unlike the professional cadres, however, Ressam was given only open-ended instructions.... 3) Local walk-ins, independent Islamic radicals who come up with terrorist-attack ideas on their own and then attempt to obtain funding from al Qaeda.... 4) Like-minded guerrillas and terrorists. This group embraces existing insurgent or terrorist groups that have benefited over the years from either Bin Laden‘s largesse or his spiritual guidance; that have received al Qaeda training in Afghanistan or elsewhere; or that the organization has provided with arms, material, and other assistance in order to further the cause of global Jihad.‖ (Cited from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom, pp. 187, 188.) ―The essential feature of this new terrorism is its privatisation. It is financed through charitable foundations, or by wealthy individuals such as Arab businessmen in the Gulf, by the drug trade (opium in Al Qaeda‘s case), the extortion of funds from shopkeepers and businessmen, the illegal sale of cigarettes or other goods in Western countries (as in the United States), or by taking Westerners hostage.‖ (The Abu Sayaf group in the Philippines specialises in taking tourists hostage.) (From Farhad Khosrokhavar, Suicide Bombers, p. 163.) [14]

MEK‘s message to students on the opening day of schools after the summer holiday of 1981 was this: ‖This year‘s first lesson is Resistance,‖ and the MEK asked students to prioritise resistance, and choose joining armed pickets over their education (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, October 9, 1981). [15]

―Ernst Becker in Denial of Death writes: ‗It is not death that man fears the most, it is death without some sense of personal significance.‘ Starr in Feet of Clay writes: ‗The dying Keats, in despair at the lack of recognition accorded him by his countrymen, desired that his name should be left off his tombstone and only these words engraved upon it: ―Here lies one whose name was writ in water.‖ If so wonderfully gifted a poet as Keats could thus express his disillusion, what is it possible for the ordinary person to say about himself? ‗I lived, I died, I know not why. I shall not be remembered.‘ Therefore, dying for a cause by itself can create great incentive for terrorists and suicide bombers; on top of that some terrorist organizations promise assent to heaven to their disciples as well. ‗Sacrifice and risk—when employed on behalf of the group—become valuable virtues, rewarded by social status. Thus, the culture … transforms individual risk and loss into group status and benefit, ultimately cycling that status back onto the individual. The higher the risk, the higher the status.‘‖ (From Argo, ‗Banality of Evil,‘ in Dying to Kill, C-153, p. 87.) [16]

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―Individuality and martyrdom: …It allows young men to become individuals because it promises them that, when they die, they will have all the things they have been denied in life, namely a paradisiacal existence. Whereas tradition made martyrdom an exceptional and above all painful, phenomenon designed to move believers to pity and to strengthen communitarian bonds in symbolic ways, a modernity in which there is no hope of self-realization generates a type of martyrdom that is readily accessible to any young man who wants it. Dying a holy death allows them to accede to dignity through sacrifice, whereas everyday life is dominated by insignificance and lack of dignity. It gives meaning and dignity to those who have been dispossessed of them. Martyrdom can give rise to two kinds of individuation through death. The first is what might be termed an optimistic individuation: the individual risks death but has a positive self-image, whatever the outcome. Death is a possibility but the individuals concerned have no intention of dying as such and, if possible, try to escape death.... Pessimistic version. These martyrs are no longer concerned with life on earth. To be more accurate, they want to die and to take with them as many as possible of those they see as the enemy.‖ (Cited from Suicide Bombers by Mia Bloom, pp. 49,50.) ―Women in combat belong to a totally new world, a world outside a normal woman‘s life.… They have taken up a life that bears little resemblance at all to the ordinary existence of women. Training and carrying weapons, confronting battle conditions, enduring the constant emotional strain of losing close associates, facing death almost every day are situations that most women not only wish to avoid, but feel ill at ease with. But not the women fighters of the LTTE. They have literally flourished under such conditions and created for themselves not only a new women‘s military structure, but also a legend of fighting capability and bravery (from Ann Adele Balasingham, Women Fighters of the LTTE, p. ii). [17]

―...The most famous among the women was Dhanu, who hid her explosive beneath her sari, giving her the appearance of pregnancy, and went to meet Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 20, 1991. When he clasped her hand as she respectfully kneeled before him, she detonated the device, killing both them and several bystanders instantly. Dhanu became heroine and symbol of the LTTE. The story of Dhanu reached mythic proportions. The perceived heroism of this woman, who committed suicide for her people and her faith, is used as an example to win over new recruits.‖ (In Robert I. Roberg, Creating Peace in Sri Lanka: Civil War and Reconciliation. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999, p. 25; cited from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom, p. 159.) [18]

MEK‘s publication, Nashrieh … December 11, 1981.

[19]

MEK‘s Publication, Nashrieh … December 18, 1981.

―Suicide terror predates the modern manifestation of car bombs that began in Lebanon. It is neither unique to the modern period nor confined to any single region or religion. The early historical antecedents of terrorism include the Jewish zealots and Sicarii in the first century AD, during the time of the Second Temple until its destruction in 70 AD, The Hindu thugs in India from the time of Herodotus until 1836, the assassins of the twelfth century, anti-colonial movements in Malabar, and the Japanese Kamikaze during World War II. By examining these early examples of terrorism we can deduce certain general patterns that emerged and draw similarities between these early illustrations and the more recent phenomena. The common themes that emerge from the early case studies provide a template of what is happening today: the role of early education in creating adherents, the appearance of charismatic and ambitious leaders, disputes over occupied territory, and the ways in which religion was manipulated to induce followers to kill in the name of God‖ (from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom, p. 4). [20]

Of course, whenever ordinary people were among the deaths, they used to name them as agents or spies of the regime, or Baiji (members of the mobilization teams)…‖ Interesting, that among their terrorist activities at the time, they claimed the explosion of three bombs close to where Khomeini used to live (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, April 23, 1982) but denied other bombs that were exploded and included casualties of ordinary people, which could not be accepted even among MEK‘s own organizational supporters. They claimed the acts were done by the regime itself, (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, September 10, 1982) or by another one (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, October 8, 1982). But they were not hesitant of even killing the manager of a state agency that by law had to give a rental report for all tenancies (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, May 14, 1982), or the head of a local organization for helping farmers (MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, July 23, 1982). As a matter of fact, in the view of MEK and its supporters, whoever was supporting the regime was criminal and worthy of being killed. [21]

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Later they changed very much as they started considering people were either with them or with the regime; therefore, whoever is not with them is collaborating with the regime and worthy of being killed. Therefore, within one year, they killed more than 2,000 people and proudly announced it themselves (MEK‘s publication; Nashrieh number 55; 24/9/1982 also in MEK‘s publication Mojahed Number 163; 4/8/1983 the number of killed by MEK between 20th of June 1982 and 20th of June 1983 was announced as 2800 people.). Of course later, as they gradually lost all their supporters in Iran due to their being killed either by execution or during armed struggle, they had to send terrorist teams from Iraq; therefore, it was not so easy to target high officials, and so they started exploding oil pipe lines (MEK‘s publication Mojahed, June 14, 1993) or putting bombs in places like the tomb of Khomeini, which could result in the killing of ordinary people. (MEK‘s publication Boltan, October 16, 1992). The Rules of Jihad: Muslims generally realize that Jihad has its rules and conditions. In the Quran, God has emphasized that no one should violate these rules and overrule them. Abu Baker, the first Caliph after the prophet, referring to the Quran and the prophet‘s sayings, instructed those who wished to consider themselves Muslim soldiers, ―Do not betray; do not carry grudges; do not deceive; do not kill children; do not kill elderly; do not kill women; do not destroy beehives or burn them; do not cut down fruit bearing trees; do not slaughter sheep, cattle, or camels except for food. You will come upon people who spend their lives in monasteries; leave them on what they have dedicated their lives…‖ (from Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad by Barnaby Rogerson, p. 162). Furthermore, Ali, the fourth Caliph, set out more rules to put a stop to killing, including safeguarding POWs. He says, ―No one turning his back shall be pursued; no one wounded shall be killed; whoever throws away his arms is safe.‖ Ali had pardoned with goodness. The dead from both sides were buried; only captured arms and animals could be held as war booty (from Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad by Barnaby Rogerson, p. 298). [22]

―[when] Mojahedin realized that the second revolution was not at hand, and so began to prepare for a prolonged armed struggle, organizational militancy now took precedence over political expediency. Hard-core militants became more important than ―fair-weather friends‖ and ―fellow travelers‖; the ―quality‖ of members more important than quantity of sympathizers, organizational discipline more important than the appearance of internal democracy, and ideological purity in the rank and file more important than frequent contacts with outside sympathizers, especially if such sympathizers could contaminate the ordinary members. Thus, the outward-reaching attitude was replaced with an inward-looking attitude that treated allies as if they were potential enemies. The new view perceived those who were not fully for the Mojahedin as being against it. Having reached those conclusions, the Mojahedin began to squeeze ―half-hearted friends‖ out of the National Council—some former members of the National Council believe that the Mojahedin could have ironed out its differences with Banisadr and the Kurdish Democratic Party. It destroyed Iranshahr when that paper [the Mojahedin] dared to publish a series of interviews with prominent exiles mildly critical of the organization. It freely accused critics of being SAVAK agents.‖ (from Ervand Abrahamian, Iranian Mojahedin, p. 249) [23]

Arthur Dole establishes four conditions for recognizing a cult; looking at these conditions, one can see how MEK gradually, since 1979, started changing into a cult and by 1985 had completed its transformation. These ―Four conditions for recognizing a cult: 1) Compliance: Measures the extent to which members sacrifice their own goals, serve leaders who make decisions, and comply with group norms. 2) Exploitation: Implies the group seeks power unethically. A cult manipulates, abuses, and uses people. 3) Mind Control: Measures the extent to which members are deceived, leaders use personal dominance, and the group uses coercive persuasion. 4) Anxious Dependency: Reflects a cult situation in which dependency can be absolute and fear tends to color all experiences.‖ (From ―Are Terrorists Cultists?‖ by Arthur A. Dole, Ph.D., ABPP Emeritus Professor, Psychology in Education, University of Pennsylvania. Cited from Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2. Special Issue: Terrorism, p. 204.) [24]

Of course, they lost almost all the remainder of their public supporters, especially in Iran, when in 1983 Rajavi met Tareq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and signed a peace treaty with him and later moved the MEK bases to Iraq. [25]

[26]

MEK‘s publication, Nashrieh, March 19, 1982.

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There are a few historical examples of how a popular organization or followers of a belief, when they have restricted their actions to terrorism, gradually have changed from a popular organization into a cult—examples like the assassins who became the cult of Hassan Sabah, Zealots, Thugs. And even in our time, apart from MEK, one can see how PKK in Turkey changed into the cult of Abdullah Ocalan, and LTTE in Sri Lanka changed into the cult of Vellupillai Prabhakaran. [27]

Film made by member of parliament Geert Wilders. Mr. Wilders says his film will show that the Muslim holy book is an inspiration for murder (BBC, February 16, 2008). I saw the film, and I found it the best propaganda tool for Al-Qaeda, to say Islam is not the Islam of 1 billion people but the Islam of a few thousand terrorists. [28]

―To be silent before the oppressor is no different than cooperation with him. To be silent before this power-ridden aggressor means only subjugation. On the other hand, rioting and mere shouting at the aggressor will not be effective unless it is based on a well-evaluated plan and program. It is because of the opening of correct and effective means of fighting against the aggressors and injustice that the vanguard of the movement, the superior, most intelligent, most devoted, and bravest sons of the people, have accepted the responsibility of forging this road.‖ (The statement of Mojahedin in response to the recent accusations of the Iranian regime [Shah‘s regime], reprinted 1979, p. 17 (reprinted and published in Iran by MEK in 1979, p. 17). [29]

[30]

http://www.slate.com/id/2214507/

[31]

Margaret Thaler Singer, Cults in Our Midst, pp. 74, 75.

Even if this was a restricted source of information, it was never put in an official code of practice or written law. [32]

At the beginning, sex after life, namely in heaven, was allowed; but later, as members found out, because they might start fantasizing about sex after life, that was forbidden, as well. [33]

Many members have European and American passports or refugee status; still, their main slogan these days, as Rajavi puts it, is: ―If Ashraf (Base) resists—the world will resist‖; and without the Iraqis‘ insistence, they are not forced to leave Iraq. [34]

The images of the two armies, Israelis in Palestine and Americans in Iraq, are virtually indistinguishable from each other for most Muslims. Many of these foreign volunteers would likely prefer to fight Israelis in Palestine, but the Israeli border is virtually impenetrable. So focusing on Iraq and killing US soldiers is the next best option (from Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom, p. 169). [35]

Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small, political terrorist cult, in 1974. She was locked in a dark closet for weeks, and was starved and raped. Later, she became an active member of the group. She passed up chances to escape and participated in a bank robbery, for which she was convicted and served a jail term. [36]

[37]

MEK‘s publication Nashrieh, number 18, December 18, 1981.

―Preventative detention and sedition laws can send a message to Muslim communities that they are mistrusted and targeted for special attention; such laws engender suspicion, heighten paranoia, and possibly run the risk of amplifying deviance in those pockets where it might exist. While limited preventative detention might be justified with adequate judicial safeguards, governments, in treading a delicate path, should err in favour of free speech, which is not only a fundamental freedom at the heart of the society we are trying to protect, but a useful ally in the so-called ‗war on terror.‘ Legislation that restricts free speech can certainly engender suspicion, induce non-cooperation, and destroy the credibility of community leaders seen to be in collaboration with governments that are running apparently contradictory policies.... It is also vital for authorities to keep in mind that terrorist violence is not limited to Muslim groups. Aum Shinrikyo was a syncretistic, Japanese Buddhist cult that employed a weapon of mass destruction, sarin gas, in its attack on the Tokyo subway. A narrow focus on Muslim groups might blind us to potential problems in cultic groups around the world most often the subject of query or complaint to the cult-watch network.‖ (Stephen Bruce Mutch, Ph.D., LL.B. (UNSW), Department of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. ―Cultism, Terrorism, and Homeland Security,‖ Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, Special Issue: Terrorism, pp. 170, 171.) [38]

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Masoud Banisadr, Ph.D., was born in Tehran in 1953. In 1976 he traveled to the United Kingdom where he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and engineering mathematics at Newcastle University in 1981. Dr. Banisadr joined the Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization (MEK) in 1979 and served as its representative in the United States from 1990-96. He left the MEK in June 1996. He wrote a memoir of his experiences entitled, Masoud: Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, published by SAQI Books, London in 2004. He has been active in exploring and explaining cult manipulation and has written many articles in Farsi about cults, available on his Website. www.banisadr.info. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Review 2009, Volume 8, Number 2, pages 154-184. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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Book Reviews Tabernacle of Hope. Bridging Your Darkened Past Toward a Brighter Future Kerry Noble, Fort Worth, Texas: Noble Strategies. 2008. ISBN-10: 0982008406; ISBN-13: 978-0-9820084-0-9, (soft cover), $18.95.178 pages. Kerry Noble, an ordained minister, is a professional writer and speaker about destructive political groups. His story is a familiar one: Idealistic young man joins a commune; finds himself second in command of a destructive political cult. Eventually he leaves the group and becomes an expert on combating dangerous right-wing extremist ―patriots.‖ After Noble left The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) group in 1983, he developed a personal philosophy—a mixture of Christian principles and positive psychology. In its first 134 pages, Tabernacle of Hope concentrates primarily on Noble's adult autobiography over three decades; it concludes with his formula for overcoming a ―darkened past.‖ Noble's Story Noble's story is dramatic, with many twists and turns. Upon finishing his theological studies, the young, idealistic, pacifist evangelical, accompanied by his pregnant wife Kay and their small child, accepts an administrative position at a small commune (the CSA) in Arkansas. Noble becomes second in command to Jim Ellison, its mesmerizing and charismatic leader. As the group, influenced by signs from God, changes in its philosophy and objectives, CSA develops an extreme right-wing fundamentalist philosophy; it is anti-Semitic, antiCommunist, anti-federal government, and racist and homophobic. Although often feeling shame and remorse, Noble becomes an American fascist—in his terms, a terrorist. Jim has an affair with a group member and takes her as a ―second wife.‖ When Noble proposes to follow his leader, Kay becomes very upset. Noble, ashamed and guilt ridden, then ends an adulterous relationship. When CSA joins the Christian Patriot movement, it plots to overthrow the U. S. government, adds new violent members, buys arms and ammunition, and turns the commune into a fortress. Examples of consequent episodes include the following: 

Tension between Jim and Noble increases.



CSA plans to bomb courthouses and assassinate federal officials.



Noble enters a gay church with a briefcase filled with explosives.



The FBI surrounds the CSA compound. Noble acts as negotiator between Jim and the FBI.



Noble spends two years in federal prisons, often in isolation.



Noble is increasingly troubled by inconsistencies in the group‘s ideology and moved by the kindness and respect of his ―enemies.‖

Once he is released, (no mention of exit counseling?) Noble builds a successful life as a salesman, writer, lecturer, consultant to federal officials, and promoter of his new philosophy; and in 1998 he publishes Tabernacle of Hate: Why They Bombed Oklahoma City.

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Hope How do you build a bridge from a troubled past to a productive future? Noble proposes hope, plus the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Various specific suggestions for self-improvement conclude the final quarter of this book. In addition, 12 cheerful and optimistic ―Noble Strategies‖ are scattered throughout, from ―Write Your Dream‖ to ―Have Fun ... Every Day.‖ Those who like a good yarn will enjoy Tabernacle of Hope, as will those interested in understanding violent political groups. However, those who believe that humankind is complicated, and who stress nuance over platitude and gray over black vs. white, may be turned off. Finally, I recommend this self-published book to the deeply religious, particularly to troubled seekers of personal improvement and to victims of extreme political cults. Arthur A. Dole, Ph. D., ABPP

The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology By John Duignan with Nicola Tallant, Merlin: Dublin, Ireland. 2008. ISBN-10: 1903582849; ISBN-13: 978-1-903582-84-8 (paperback). Amazon.com price: $16.00; Eason (Dublin, Ireland) price Euro: 12.99. 318 pages. The Complex is the successful work of a former 22-year Scientology member working with a journalist, and the result is a striking autobiography. The story is often gripping and always interesting. John Duignan‘s initial recruitment into Dianetics processing in the first chapter was especially eye-opening for me because that was the same path that my son Noah took. John‘s induction led to 22 years of largely undercompensated servitude in the Sea Org, during which he exercised skills on behalf of Scientology. The time not entirely a loss, John emerged from the experience older and wiser. My son was recruited into Scientology, but his story lacks a happy ending. I am happy for John that things finally went right and he ultimately emerged much wiser. Noah‘s experience in Scientology went shockingly wrong, but that is another story. John‘s boyhood was sad. He lost both parents and had trouble with recurring bad feelings. Dianetics Center operatives who he happened upon were warm, supportive, and directive, and his induction into Scientology was fairly positive. He was recruited further into the Sea Org and traveled from Ireland to Los Angeles to the Complex, the former Cedars of Lebanon Hospital building. At a Cult Awareness Network meeting in the early 1990s, a former resident colorfully described the Complex sotto voce as ―the powder-blue flop house.‖ John Duignan lost contact with his large family back in Ireland and entered upon a consuming career as a Scientology middle manager. He endured Scientology‘s recurring cycles of being built up and then being torn down. There is apparently never much security and resting-upon-laurels in Scientology. It does not appear to be much of a career option. Auditing (trance-induced reveries into one‘s past) was ongoing. I am greatly indebted to John Duignan for clarifying that Dianetics auditing is not like hypnosis, it is hypnosis. If I understand correctly, every time there is an auditing session, a hypnotic trance state ensues. The subject is probed into self-revelation, and suggestions are often implanted by the auditor. False memories that emerge from the trance state are often reinforced. Understanding that this process goes on all the time makes it easier to understand why inductees become so compelled, partisan, and dedicated, and why it is so impossible for outsiders such as former family and friends to sway, direct, or liberate them or often even converse productively with them. Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 48

Sea Org indoctrination in the Complex was gulag-like and extremely regimented. After I had read The Complex, my United States Army basic training seemed like a far healthier romp. After a time in Los Angeles, John moved from L. A. to St. Hill in England. In his auditing at St. Hill, John achieved what he calls ―time travel,‖ which he attempts to describe. He asserts that it occurred during an awake, rather than an asleep state; but his perceptions while entranced were, for example, ―dream-like pictures of riding a Jeep in a desert 8000 years ago.‖ These reveries are then interpreted as examples of prior reincarnations. John Duignan was a successful member of Scientology but was disadvantageously treated as one of many routinely regarded drones. He felt he had many friends or associates while he was in Scientology, but he was always curiously on his own. His is a fascinating story that conveys what Scientology is all about and also conveys a good idea of what it is not about. John finally began to sneak peeks at computers not outfitted with Net-Nannys. His leaving Scientology followed naturally after he began having insights about what he was accepting. I suggest that you read The Complex and let him tell his story as he does so very well. Whether you are an old hand or a novice, this book is worth reading. I believe it is especially useful for students of many fields—cultic studies, psychology, sociology, education, journalism, criminal justice, political science, history, and in fact almost all liberal arts and preprofessional studies, especially medicine and law. Edward A. Lottick, M. D.

Island Aldous Huxley, New York, NY: Perennial Classics, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2002 edition (originally published in 1962). ISBN-10: 0-06-008549-5; ISBN-13: 978-0060085490 (paperback), $14.95 ($10.17, Amazon.com). 354 pages. Huxley’s Island and Leary’s LSD Experiment ―Attention!‖ This novel begins and ends with ―attention.‖ Trained, talking birds on the idealized island of Pala randomly repeat that word and others, including ―karuna‖ (compassion), like mantras for all within earshot. The mynahs remind people to stay in the moment, to observe the ―fact‖ of the environment and the immediacy of being. Talking birds are only one odd feature that Will Farnaby, a shipwrecked spy, journalist, and inadvertent seeker, discovers on Pala. Throughout the story Farnaby harbors a secret that his powerful employer wants to take over Pala politically. The nearby nations envy Pala‘s relatively isolationist prosperity built over 120 years. The island of Pala is too good. Without a military and lacking greed for power, it is vulnerable. The conspiracy to take over includes Pala‘s young ruler in waiting who adamantly rejects the culture‘s way of life while siding with another nation‘s imperialist scheme. Pala‘s people seek a practical life based on rational, modernist advances in medicine, technology, and psychology, as well as in spirituality. Pala‘s religion combines elements of modern psychology, Hinduism, Taoism, and insight from ―moksha medicine,‖ derived from a psychotropic plant. The Palanese employ technology sparingly to preserve the value of human labor. Soon after a wounded Will Farnaby arrives on Pala, a young girl finds him. She takes him to meet Dr. Robert, an important official, for treatment. Dr. Robert shares a philosophical treatise with Will, ―Notes on What‘s What,‖ written by the Old Raja of Pala. The odd gospel elaborates the culture‘s non-dualist philosophy. Citizens of Pala avoid dualism, or what

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―Manichees‖ (dualists) practice in the main Western religions. As the novel progresses, we read the treatise along with Will Farnaby. It offers important distinctions between faith and belief, with the latter taking ―unanalyzed words too seriously.‖ Faith is ―the empirically justified confidence in our capacity to know who in fact we are…‖ The empirical justification comes not only from practical application of life skills, but also from the ritual use of a drug called ―moksha medicine.‖ Dr. Robert explains it this way: You‘re not being asked to believe it ... The real thing isn‘t a proposition; it‘s a state of being. We don‘t teach our children creeds or get them worked up over emotionally charged symbols. When it‘s time for them to learn the deepest truths of religion, we set them to climb a precipice and then give them four hundred milligrams of revelation. Two firsthand experiences of reality, from which any reasonably intelligent boy or girl can derive a very good idea of what‘s what. (162-3) If philosophical soliloquies bore you, I suggest you avoid this novel. The abundance of didactic passages reflects the author‘s thinly disguised spiritual and social prejudices. Farnaby is Huxley‘s foil through whom he deigns to teach and transform the reader. Farnaby transforms from cynic to believer as he progressively experiences the kindness, openness, and practical values of the islanders. His spiritual eyes open when he finally consumes the moksha medicine toward the end of the novel. Farnaby is ―born again‖ sixties‘ style; but, alas, Pala and its harmonious culture are doomed to takeover. It was too good to last because the world around it is so spiritually dense and corrupt. Island is Huxley‘s personal legacy, his testament and model for a better future. A few people have taken up the banner, including the Island Web, a non-profit corporation dedicated to the creation of a psychedelic culture (www.island.org). My interest in this book comes primarily from Island’s influence on late 20th-century cults or intentional communities. Timothy Leary, the high priest of LSD fame, specifically modeled his quasireligious social experiment that he called International Federation of Internal Freedom (IFIF) on ideas in Island that reflect Huxley‘s belief in transformational drugs. Timothy Leary (1920–1996) and Richard Alpert (born 1931, a.k.a. Ram Dass) originally established IFIF in 1962 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They soon moved the social experiment to the infamous mansion at Millbrook, New York, near Poughkeepsie, to create a better ―setting‖ for tripping on LSD. New laws by the FDA scheduled to take effect in June 1963 threatened the licentious LSD ―research‖ of Leary and others. To better implement an all-important setting for psychedelic experience, the IFIF found a temporary home during the summer of 1962. An old resort, the Hotel Catalina north of Acapulco near Zihuatanejo, Mexico, served as the residence called Freedom House. There, Leary and a loose company of several dozen followers implemented LSD-inspired ideas while taking notes during selfobservation. Huxley‘s Pala culture provided a rough blueprint for the IFIF experience. Leary and his motley collection of professionals and Harvard students wanted a place apart in a relatively pristine environment to scale what Jay Stevens called ―an Everest expedition of the mind.‖ i

Leary envisioned IFIF as a core ―cell‖ or a ―small transpersonative [sic] band of evolutionary pioneers‖ that would train ―guides‖ for other cells of folks learning to expand consciousness with psychedelic drugs. Thus, IFIF would spread exponentially around the globe to transform all of mankind. Predictably, the Hotel Catalina experiment and IFIF went the way of most poorly conceived utopias and totalistic social movements. Personality disorders disguised as inner freedom or enlightenment surfaced among the grandiose leaders in short

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order. However, before things got totally out of hand, the federales of Mexico shut down Leary‘s Freedom House for operating a business without a license. Next, the IFIF members tried to relocate in Dominica, but they were forced to leave again by a government suspicious of Leary‘s political motives. Next, they went to Antigua to set up shop. Within a week or so, one of the IFIF students ―disappeared‖ on Antigua. He became psychotic (catatonic) under LSD, thinking that he must sacrifice himself to save IFIF. He ended up in a hovel at a remote jungle asylum run by a quack Hungarian psychiatrist who did lobotomies. Within days, an IFIF leader found and retrieved the young man, who was by then quite sane and happily untouched by the eccentric doctor. He was sent home. A few days later the officials of Antigua summoned Leary to inform him to leave the island and to take IFIF with him. So, in the space of less than three months IFIF was kicked out of three countries and one prestigious university. ii Referring to the Millbrook mansion days of IFIF, Jay Stevens writes this: It was exhausting, it was exhilarating. As with any group who lived together and took LSD regularly, the outlines of a group-mind began to form, with all the strange nonverifiable phenomena (precognition, telepathy, ESP) that that implies. One byproduct of this phenomenon was a quantum increase in the us-versus-them mentality. When [Frank] Barron returned for a visit in late 1962, he was alarmed at how much they resembled a cult—and one that excluded him.iii The subsequent Catalina Hotel commune that Leary named Freedom House also fell into a cult-like atmosphere within weeks. Residents of Huxley‘s Pala limit mechanization, control overpopulation by training young males in yogic retention of semen during premarital sex, and practice ritual ecstasy with ―moksha medicine,‖ which reflects Huxley‘s personal experience of mescaline. LSD became IFIF‘s premier moksha medicine after psilocybin. On Pala, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism combine with modernist rationalism to form the utopian religion of the people. The Palanese disdain theistic religious ideas, especially Christianity, if not Christ. Likewise, Leary‘s new LSD religion rejected his Catholic roots in favor a drug-laced amalgam of Eastern and futuristic perspectives within the burgeoning New Age milieu. In contrast to Palanese society, sexual expression in Leary‘s camp featured the ―free love‖ variety of the sixties with no formalized yoga involved. Huxley and Leary met around 1962 to share their ideas, shortly before Huxley died (incidentally, while tripping on 200 mm of ―acid‖ or LSD injected by his wife, who remained at his bedside coaching him to go ―up to the light‖). Leary co-opted an insight from Huxley to use the bardo levels of post-mortem soul travel as outlined in the Tibetan Book of the Dead to guide LSD ―trippers.‖ Alpert (Ram Dass) later remarked that the ―2500 year old‖ Tibetan Book of the Dead contained ―the most vivid descriptions of what we were experiencing with psychedelics but hadn‘t been able to describe.‖ iv Huxley was taken with Leary‘s charisma, but he misjudged the man‘s utter self-absorption. Neither man understood at the time how misguided and narcissistic a drug-dependent enlightenment could become, as it did. Unlike Prometheus, who successfully stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, IFIF trippers ―experienced‖ grand visions and insights among the gods but were clueless as to practical social applications, if indeed there were any. LSD and related drugs have proved to be of minimal therapeutic value and tend to cause more problems than they relieve. Leary and IFIF were on a mission to revolutionize human consciousness in one generation through a cult of psychedelics, much like Huxley was with one book, Island. Both ventures failed. Huxley‘s Island predicted failure of Pala‘s harmonious culture at the hands of imperialism

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and materialism. Leary‘s optimistic if reckless IFIF movement burned out in strikingly tragicomic fashion as a naïve victim of the very same sacramental drug it sought to glorify. Reference Stevens, Jay, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream. New York: Harper and Row.

Endnotes [i]

Jay Stevens, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, p. 185.

[ii]

IBID, p. 201.

[iii]

IBID, p. 194.

[iv]

IBID, p. 186.

Joe Szimhart

Our Father, who art in bed: A Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ By J. Paul Lennon, J. Paul Lennon (and BookSurge Publishing), 2008. ISBN-10: 14196-7662-8; ISBN-13: 978-1419676628 (paperback). $15. 400 pages. Would you, as a loving parent, send your seventeen-year-old son to dedicate his life to a highly manipulative organization controlled by a sexual predator? Of course, you would not. And neither did the loving parents of John Paul Lennon, but… it did happen. What happened was that a culturally motivated, naive young man from Ireland accepted the glowing promise of Catholic recruiters to help form a new religious movement in Mexico in 1961. Lennon felt drawn to the adventure with holy men who would guide and protect his journey. What could be better? Despite lingering doubts about everything from his sexual expression to the existence of God, Lennon signed on and served, eventually as an ordained priest, in the Legion of Christ for twenty-three years. He formally left the ―congregation‖ in 1984. This book answers the question, why? The Legion was founded by a young Father Marcial Maciel in 1941. In many respects, the Legion of Christ and its lay subsidiary Regnum Christi closely resembles Opus Dei, the Catholic organization maligned in The Da Vinci Code. Both are controversial, conservative, hierarchical Catholic groups formed ostensibly to provide members with rules for a saintly life and a way to serve others. Both groups target wealthy donors and aggressively seek favor from the Vatican. Indeed, Opus Dei‘s founder was canonized recently. The same beatific fate may not befall Father Maciel, as long as strong evidence continues to appear regarding his mismanagement of the Legion and his decades‘ long legacy of sexual abuse of young men. J. Paul Lennon‘s self-published autobiography is the second significant exposé in English of the Legion and Fr. Maciel, the first being Vows of Silence (2004). There are many exposés in Spanish. Lennon‘s story brings the Legion experience into intimate focus through the lens of his life, his dreams, his sins, and his struggles. Lennon broke with the Legion after confronting the leader publicly about mistreatment of relocated members. Lennon was also fed up with the double standards regarding vows of poverty while the leaders basked in favors and food from wealthy donors. Although Lennon never encountered sexual abuse personally while a Legion member, he documents what he learned after he left the group. Be prepared for specificity regarding Maciel‘s controversial behavior toward the end of the book. (The title refers to Fr. Maciel‘s myriad illnesses that required frequent time-outs for

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days in bed, which also often required injections of Demerol and erotic massages by young male students). Our Father, who art in bed... reads well enough as a self-published effort by a first-time book writer. I enjoyed Lennon‘s anecdotes about his life in Ireland and Mexico. The reader finds a sense of place and culture as Lennon reflects on his struggles to make sense of his psychological isolation while he serves others. The Legion restricted every aspect of a member‘s life, including friends. ―What friends?‖ asks Lennon on page 111. ―I had to have a motive and objective to contact outsiders; all activities not sanctioned by the very detailed rule had to be approved by my superior.‖ He was able to visit his family only five years after he joined. Lennon would not know the songs of Bob Dylan or the other John Paul Lennon and The Beatles until after 1984. Lennon served as a priest in the Washington, D. C. area for five years after he broke away. He applauds the open kindness of Catholic clerics there who restored his faith in the Church. Nevertheless, Lennon requested and was granted a release from Holy Orders in 1989. Lennon eventually recognized that his Legion experience matched many stories of ex-cult members from any number of other controversial groups. He and other ex-Legionites formed a helping network called REGAIN, which has a Website. As his book documents, Lennon and REGAIN were sued last year by the Legion of Christ over violation of allegedly confidential information. This book is in part an appeal to the Church, the Legion, and the public to recognize the truth of the matter. If nothing else, Lennon‘s legacy is set as one brave former priest who took on a festering cult that the Catholic authority has yet to adequately assess. We learn from the book that deceptive recruiting and using the power of the Gospel to manipulate loyalty to an elitist agenda does not represent Christian principles. The author weaves memoir, exposé, and a plea into his narrative. Details of his life and youth offer insight into his reactions and sense of loyalty as a young recruit. In the Ireland of his youth, it was a high honor for one of your sons to become a priest. Clear evidence allows the reader to see how the cult surrounding the founder Fr. Maciel operated. Lennon moves at times from a first-person account to third person as an emotional strategy to remain as objective as possible about some highly painful passages. Introductory chapter quotes from Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse act as effective reflections of the author‘s insights. Lennon appears to identify with the emerging Buddha‘s struggles and insights. Other quotes from various songwriters, especially Bob Dylan, accent certain passages. When Fr. Paul finally breaks with the Legion in Quintana Roo, Mexico, he realizes that he‘s leaving behind everything that mattered to him for twenty-three years. On page 209, a section and the chorus of Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan captures the emotion: ―How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction or home, like a complete unknown…‖ Lennon forces the reader to consider why the Vatican appeared to support Fr. Maciel, despite early knowledge of the priest‘s sexual violations. Abusive cults tend to surround leaders with hidden agendas. In this case, Maciel as a young priest with a vision captured the Vatican‘s attention, much as the founder of Opus Dei had. While promoting conservative principles in the face of modernism and secularism, the Church most likely felt it had in both movements an antidote to social decadence and liberalism. Besides, they seem so successful in both recruiting young men and women and in fundraising. Add to that the apparent charisma of the new leaders, and the Church considered that maybe it had budding saints! However, this book examines the forces that act on why someone stays in a religious order. Is there deception and manipulation? Where does one draw the line between rational obedience and blind loyalty? What are the costs one faces to break away? Lennon forces us and the Vatican to ask: Is an ends-justifies-the-means approach the way to make a saint? Is the Legion‘s success due more to cult behavior than living the Gospel‘s calling?

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There is more to this story. Much of it available only in Spanish might help the reader come to a clearer answer. Lennon lists these sources and many more. He also offers information about the REGAIN organization that gathers and disseminates critical information about the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi. No matter how you feel about these organizations, Paul Lennon‘s autobiography is a must read. Joe Szimhart

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News Summaries Kenneth Delcalf, an elderly member of a the Abbotsford Church of God in Christ, a Mennonite congregation in British Columbia, has been convicted of sexually abusing his daughter for at least a decade beginning in 1980, when she was 14. The judge who sentenced him to nine months in jail said that the Abbotsford Church had known about the abuse for almost two decades but failed to report it to police. When a family member in 1990 told the church about the abuse, Delcalf was excommunicated for ―lasciviousness,‖ but he was allowed back in after a few months. The victim said the abuse ―began the night I became a Christian, and it lasted until the very day I left the church, when I was 22.‖ Before that, in 2006, she went to church elders seeking help for herself and her family, and there were promises of counseling, but when she learned that her father‘s counselor would be another elder, and not an outside professional, she went to police with her story, being especially concerned about the welfare of her grandchildren, who were within her father‘s orbit. Regarding the church‘s approach to the issue, the judge said: ―The defendant‘s actions were not merely sins which could be expiated by confession to spiritual mentors, but crimes, offenses against the social order which fail to be dealt with by civil society. Both the defendant and members of his church appear to have forgotten or ignored the Biblical injunctions to render unto Caesar those things that properly belong to Caesar.‖ A college professor observing the case noted, ―The Mennonite church is of the Anabaptist tradition and tends to be ‗antinomian.‘ That is, to put the church above the law. They have a tendency to believe everything can be solved in-house.‖ Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japan‘s new prime minister, says she was the victim of alien abduction nearly 20 years ago and taken to Venus. The lifestyle guru, macrobiotics enthusiast, cookbook author, and retired actress wrote in her book, ―Very Strange Things I‘ve Encountered,‖ ―While my body was sleeping, I think my spirit flew on a triangularshaped UFO to Venus. It was an extremely beautiful place and was very green.‖ She says she knew Tom Cruise in a former incarnation—he was Japanese at that time—and wants to make a movie with him. Her husband, for whom she campaigned, says: ―I feel relieved when I get home. She is like an energy-refueling base.‖ A document entitled, ―A Course in the Art of Recruitment,‖ now making its way through alQaida‘s distribution network, has been characterized by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point as a manual ―designed to provide less-skilled jihadist recruiters operating independently of a cohesive terrorist organization with the tools to effectively recruit secular and moderate Muslims into the global jihadist movement.‖ The document advises using a ―soft sell‖ that does not, early on, mention al-Qaida, because if it did, the recruit might be ―negatively affected by the calumnies of the media‖ toward that organization. The training advises recruiters to befriend prospects and encourage them to read religious pamphlets and view religious tapes, especially material that discusses heaven and hell, paradise and damnation. A primary goal, says the training, must be to isolate the recruit from his old environment. Non-religious Muslims are the best targets because they can‘t refute religious arguments and they don‘t attract attention. Converts from other forms of radicalism tend to be too much trouble. But "Youth in remote areas" are likely to be "naturally religious‖ and "easy to shape and convince." In response to abuses by some direct marketing operations, Amway has called on the Indian government to legislate regulations to protect the interests of both the industry and consumers. An Amway spokesman said, ―There is not a country that I know of where the industry has prospered but doesn‘t have specific legislation relative to the industry.‖ Bulgarian authorities in April were considering whether or not Astrologist Emile Leshtanski committed the crimes of spreading false information and causing panic when he forecast a Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 55

deadly earthquake for the city of Haskovo that did not happen. Because Bulgarians are very superstitious—psychics, healers, and fortune-yellers are widely popular—hundreds of residents slept in tents and cars on the predicted day. (An Italian scientist who predicted the recent L‘Aquila quake, weeks before that that disaster, was ―reported‖ to authorities for spreading panic.) The Japanese Supreme Court has turned down Shigeo Sugimoto‘s appeal to overturn his life sentence for participating in Aum Shinrikyo‘s 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. His attorneys argued that he only transported the people who actually dispersed the gas, and that he regretted the incident. Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Muslim Boko Harem sect, was killed in July in gun battles with the Nigerian military following clashes between his followers and authorities in four of the country‘s northern states. Militants, called ―Taliban‖ by some, were armed with home made hunting rifles, bows and arrows, and scimitars. Police had earlier raided a sect hideout where they found arms and bomb-making equipment. Boko Harem rejects Western education, favors the imposition of Islamic law, and believes in the segregation of the sexes. Within the context of deep poverty, said an observer from the International Crisis Group, ―You have a ready army that can be enlisted in violent enterprises. There are people who feel the Western models of education and government have failed them.‖ Senior pastor Anthony Scott Williams, 65, of the Christian Assemblies International (CAI), based in Upper Orara, New South Wales, Australia, appeared in court in July on 14 sexual assault charges. Police say the offences were aggravated because he used his position as Overseer (highest authority) of the congregation to which the victims belonged. Clergy Abuse. A survey released by Baylor University researchers in September says that one in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader. A co-author of the survey, School of Social Work Dean Diana Garland, says: ―It certainly is prevalent, and clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers.‖ One survey respondent said that a married minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who had been her pastor for a decade, told her that their relationship was ordained by God. Twenty-six former followers of Dahn Yoga, which operates more than 130 centers across the U.S., have sued the organization; they say it practices ―psychological manipulation,‖ and experts call it a cult. The complaint says, ―Members were required to acknowledge . . . absolute devotion‖ to leader Iichi Lee and to his ―Vision,‖ give all their cash and credit [cards] to the organization, and ―disconnect from their previous life, including friends and family and any personal interests outside of Dahn.‖ Some Dahn recruiting takes place through ―Body and Brain‖ clubs on college campuses. A former member at the University of New Mexico says, ―They advertise it as being something to help you de-stress from school.‖ Group retreats include ―competitive events‖ where losers were forced to stick their heads into the toilet, drink toilet water, and lick and kiss other members‘ feet on the floor of the men‘s bathroom. Osei Hita Torres, elevated to guru status as a toddler by the Dalai Lama, has denounced the Buddhist order that raised him. ―They took me away from my family and stuck me in a medieval situation in which I suffered a great deal,‖ said Torres, 24. He‘s now studying film in Madrid and leading a Western lifestyle. Nonetheless, he is also known as Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, and the Buddhist community reveres him; the Foundation to Preserve the Mahayana Tradition, which has 130 centers worldwide, features his biography. The Saudi government is running a rehabilitation center outside Riyadh —―something like a college campus or Islamic seminary‖—where former jihadists attend a two-month program and are ―gently encouraged to abandon violence.‖ According to the U.S. Public Broadcast Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 56

Service (PBS), the program seeks, through this deprogramming, to ―correct theological misunderstanding‖ while addressing ―the psychological needs and emotional weaknesses that have led many young men to jihad in the first place.‖ Saudi authorities say that of 85 men released following their participation in the program, 11 subsequently appeared on a list of those ―wanted‖ for joining jihadist groups. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd‘s government has given more money ($13.9 million) than his predecessor (who gave $9 million) to support Exclusive Brethren schools, even though Rudd labeled the group a cult when he was in the opposition. Falun Gong in Montreal has accused organizers of the St. Patrick‘s Day parade of discrimination after being barred from participating, even though Falun Gong says it promised not to hand out pamphlets, as it had in prior years. The pamphlets illustrate torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Parade organizers said, ―We do not entertain anyone with a cause in the parade.‖ Falun Gong, which China promoted in the 1990s alongside traditional cooking and handicrafts in its cultural propaganda aimed at the West, has for a decade now been an ―evil cult‖ that rivals the Dalai Lama as the party‘s number one enemy. The vice-president of the European Parliament says, ―The persecution of the Falun Gong amounts to genocide as defined in Article 2 of the Genocide Convention.‖ A postal worker, arrested for writing ―Falun Dafa [Falun Gong] is good,‖ died after two days in custody, allegedly of torture, according to Falun Gong activists. A Falun Gong member, speaking from New York, says many in positions of power in China think the government‘s crackdown disproportionate to the threat. ―The problem with the Communist Party is they cannot admit mistakes. Jiang Zemin [the former president] made the decision to crack down on the movement, and he is still powerful behind the scenes, so nobody can criticize the persecution. These days, the party realizes they probably made a mistake when they massacred students in Tiananmen Square, but they can never admit it, and it is the same with Falun Gong.‖ The event that provoked the crackdown was the 10,000-strong 1999 Falun Gong rally in front of the government leadership compound that borders Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The demonstration demanded official recognition of the group. The government also saw in Falun Gong echoes of the 19 th century Taiping and Boxer rebellions. Moreover, Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi‘s move to New York was viewed as stemming from malignant foreign influence in China‘s affairs. Mexico‘s La Familia, a group of vigilantes formed in the 1980s to bring order to the state of Michoacan, help the poor, and fight drug traffickers, has become an organized crime group that uses both paramilitary and psychological tactics in Michoacan, Guerreo, Mexico [sic] and Jalisco states to maintain a powerful regional ―polydrug‖ organization involved in kidnapping for ransom, pirated CDs and DVDs, and the cooption of politicians. Ann Hamilton-Byrne, leader of The Family, the notorious cult still operating in Victoria, Australia, has reconciled with daughter Sarah Hamilton-Byrne, whose report to authorities about life in the group precipitated a 1987 raid that saw a number of children taken into custody. It was learned at the time that these and other children—who thought they were Hamilton-Byrne‘s biological offspring—were actually children of single mothers pressured into giving them up for adoption, or the children of other cult members. They were reportedly raised in almost complete isolation, their hair dyed peroxide blond, dressed in identical outfits, allegedly half-starved and beaten, forced to take large quantities of tranquilizers to calm them, and fed LSD when they became adults. Ann Hamilton-Byrne defends the way she raised the children and calls those who say she mistreated them ―lying bastards.‖ She refused to discuss any specific allegations, although she said, ―Everything on Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 57

earth has its uses,‖ when asked about the alleged use of LSD. As she spoke, ―elderly helpers in colored wigs and heavy make-up scurried around, avoiding eye contact.‖ There are said to be as many as 50 followers, living on the property or in surrounding hills, who still ―defer‖ to Hamilton Byrne. Sarah Hamilton-Byrne, who became a physician—Dr. Sarah Moore—after leaving The Family, now suffers from bi-polar disorder and recently lost a leg following a suicide attempt. She says she sees the 87-year-old Ann Hamilton-Byrne as her mother. ―I do love Anne, and my feelings are still mixed about her. . . I had put my life on the line to oppose her . . . as I believed at the time that to oppose her, to betray her, was to die. . . She is a powerful and charismatic person, and I believe she initially meant well with both creating the cult and collecting us children. Both acts were in compensation and delusional repair for her own childhood.‖ When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford confessed his extra-marital affair at a press conference in June, he said he‘d met with colleagues for advice and support at C Street, a gathering place for an alleged secretive fellowship of conservative congressmen that has cult-like aspects. Jeff Sharlet, a Harper‘s editor who has written a book about the group — The Family— says that members believe in ―biblical capitalism,‖ which means free-market fundamentalism, and ―male headship.‖ They also teach that ―morality is for little people.‖ Members apparently think of themselves as ―chosen,‖ not bound by the same moral strictures as ordinary people. But they don‘t want to be called Christians, preferring rather to be known as ―followers of Jesus,‖ for whom they teach ―absolute devotion,‖ the kind of devotion inspired by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. These leaders, according to Family member Doug Coe—who was the moving force behind the National Prayer Breakfast—understood the absolute power of devotion. John Marks, who has written a book on evangelical fundamentalism, says that the Family‘s doctrines don‘t diverge much from the beliefs of certain other evangelical groups. The sense of being chosen explains why even sexual escapades aren‘t seen as reason for perpetrators to resign from office. ‖They are chosen to live out a certain reality that completely overshadows the peccadilloes of a sinner‘s life,‖ Marks says. A year after the Texas raid on the Fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Yearning for Zion Ranch, ―life has regained a familiar rhythm‖ despite continuing economic and social disruption. An FLDS representative said that the group‘s willingness to open itself up to public scrutiny, through media access, paved the way for the court‘s decision to return all but one of the 439 children taken into custody. An attorney for one FLDS Texas family says that the children ―all still have problems of worrying about strange men coming around—are the police coming?—that sort of thing.‖ A spokesman for Texas family services said: ―Despite feeling pride in their efforts on what they knew was a historic case, many employees [of the Department of Family and Protective Services] found the experience exhausting and emotional and experienced significant stress.‖ The raid and its aftermath have engendered both a renewed sense of grievance among members and a resolve to defend their way of life. In Utah, the church is pressing—through a campaign called Principle Voices—for the legalization of polygamy. There is sympathy in the legislature for revising the law, and even the attorney general, Mark Shurtleff, who has gotten death threats for defending current law, says: ―I‘m not being soft on them. But I don‘t have the resources to throw them all into jail. I hope they now work through the process of changing the law if they disagree with it.‖ . . . ―Apostates‖ who rejected Warren Jeffs‘ leadership and resisted his demands to abandon their homes, wives, and children, fear that negotiations between Attorney General Shurtleff Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 58

and other interested parties may lead to a return to FLDS control of land and housing in the communities. The property was formerly held in a trust by the FLDS, but some of it has been given over to individuals since the trust was placed in the hands of court-appointed receiver Bruce Wisan. The apostates, claiming they‘re already being harassed by Jeffs loyalists, think they may eventually be run out of town. They say, ―The word . . . is that the Colorado City and Hildale will be purified of all unbelievers—a religious cleansing.‖ Shurtleff says: ―We understand their concerns . . . We‘re looking out for them, absolutely. . . Much of our negotiation has been to protect the minority population down there,‖ where local government and police are still controlled by Jeffs loyalists. . . . Receiver Wisan has refused an FLDS payment of $192,000 in fees—half of what it owes for six months occupancy of homes in Hildale and Colorado City—because, he says, the payment was made under protest, which means to him that the church wants to protect its legal right to argue against ultimately having to pay at all. A judge will soon decide whether or not to sell the properties—the FLDS trust holds $114 million worth in Utah, Arizona, and British Columbia—if the church doesn‘t pay. Brent Jeffs, one of the ―lost boys‖ [thrown out of the FLDS community to make more young women available for marriage to older men] has written a book, Lost Boy. The account focuses on the accusation—the basis of a civil suit filed in 2004— that his uncle, jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, repeatedly raped him. ―In recurring nightmares, ‗shards of memory‘ were completing a mosaic: He had been abused.‖ Brent says Warren Jeffs told him the encounters were ―God‘s work,‖ and that if he told anyone about them, he‘d ―burn in hell.‖ Brent‘s heroin-addicted older brother Calyne, who killed himself in 2002, told a hypnotherapist that, as a child, Warren had abused him, too. ―The book follows a familiar motif in memoirs by former FLDS members: A dysfunctional family, including a father with an explosive temper, and dueling plural wives who make life hell.‖ Jancis Andrews, a self-made expert on the Bountiful, British Columbia, branch of the FLDS, who is campaigning to get the Attorney General to move against the polygamist group, told a local chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women in March that ―no group in Canada, religious or secular, has a Charter right to collect women and girls as concubines in harems, to force sex on them, which is rape, to deny them birth control . . . to force boys out of the community in order to make more concubines available for the elders, and to threaten anyone who tries to protest with burning for all eternity in Hell.‖ Reasons why the law is not acting more forcefully than it has include: refusal of women to testify against the men (although police generally have a right to charge an abuser without the abused person‘s consent or testimony); a trial of so many abusers would cost millions; if every man living with multiple wives were charged, there would be hundreds of men in jail, leaving wives with few ways to support themselves and needing state support for them and their children. (One of Bountiful leader Winston Blackmore‘s wives recently gave birth to his 119th child.) . . . The Canadian government is prosecuting three separate cases against, or involving, Winston Blackmore, head of the Bountiful, British Columbia, branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The first case involves a criminal charge that he practiced polygamy. This is the first time a Canadian has been charged with polygamy since the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects freedom of religion. Court documents that will be central to the case trace Blackmore‘s links to 19 of his contemporaneous wives during 2005–2006. Blackmore says the government should pay his legal bills if the case proceeds. The second case alleges that Blackmore, through his construction, logging and farming business, earned some $1.84 million in taxable benefits during a recent five-year period,

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and not just the $116,445 that he reported. The government also says that the firm claimed numerous expenses that were not related to business. The third case demands that two of Blackmore‘s wives return the family support funds they received from the state. One of the women, for example, claimed eligibility based on a family income of $31,000. But after a state reassessment of Blackmore‘s finances, the family income was found to be $309,000, which would have disqualified the woman from receiving any assistance. The Russian government has announced a new government policy on religious education in public schools: students will be able to choose courses on Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, or Buddhism. Alternative courses in comparative religion or secular ethics will also be offered. The goal is to combat the aimlessness of youth. Religious education in the public schools has become an issue with the rising influence of the Russian Orthodox Church since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is likely that the new approach will be criticized by Christian evangelicals and Roman Catholics, the latter a sizable population in certain ethnic centers. ―Might the government find itself trying to deal with hostile Friday mosque sermons because of the kind of Islam it promulgates in the schools? How will populations in areas where Islam is a major faith react to state school classes that offer instruction in other faiths as well?‖ The annual report of the French government agency Miviludes (―Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviancy) denounces ―excessive‖ cult influence in international institutions, including the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the European Council, as well as the U.S. State Department (through its Report on Religious Freedoms in the World). Miviludes spotlights certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) it says try to legitimize cult activities by saying religious freedom rights protect them. Scientology, whose website logo looks like the UN‘s, has presented itself as being ―Associated with the UN Department of Public Information‖ in its attacks on Miviludes. . . In ―fiercely secular‖ France, the government has struggled to strike a balance between maintaining church-state separation and honoring the right of citizens to express their faith. But in the current case against Scientology,‖ says Time Magazine writer Bruce Crumley, ―authorities have abandoned their usual attempts at fine-tuning religion‘s standing in French society—instead, they want to ban Scientology from France altogether.‖ A political opposition rally in April in downtown St. Petersburg in defense of the right to gather was quickly dispersed by police, although five minutes later 50 Hare Krishnas were allowed to walk in formation and assemble close to the same spot. Ultra Orthodox Jews, or Haredi, are spreading throughout Israel and pressing their puritanical ways on the country. One shopkeeper complained that the Haredi were passing out notes ―to people like me, telling me I couldn‘t wear blouses like this,‖ referring to a sleeveless top. ―Then, one Friday night . . . I left my two kids alone—teenagers. They were playing music, not too loud, and this Haredi neighbor comes and pounds on the door shouting, ‗goyim‘ [non-Jews] and demanding they turn off the music. It really scared them.‖ This is a reflection of growing conflict and violence as fundamentalist Jews confront secular Jews and traditional municipal governments. For example, Haredi protested the opening, on the Sabbath, of a parking lot just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. When welfare officials took custody of a half-starved Haredi boy and arrested his mother for abuse, Haredi took to the streets and burned large bins of garbage, throwing rocks at police and setting fire to the child welfare office. Police have sometimes broken up such protests with pepper spray and arrested protestors.

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Last year, ultra-Orthodox rabbis forced department stores in Tiberius to cover up mannequins that displayed bathing suits in its windows. They‘ve also persuaded billboard companies to excise pictures of women, including Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni. Busses with service to Heredi communities are now segregated; women sit in the back. (Some ultra-Orthodox women said they liked the separate seating arrangement.) Females in the Knesset [parliament] choir were not permitted to perform inside the main Knesset chamber so they wouldn‘t offend Haredi in the audience. ―A day will come when there won‘t be a single secular mayor anywhere,‖ says Meier Porush, a Haredi leader who almost won Jerusalem‘s mayoral election last year. Israeli novelist Amos Oz suggested in 1982 that Zionism [the movement that built Israel] was ―a passing, secular interlude, a historical and political upheaval, and that halachic Judaism [the kind practiced by the ultra-Orthodox] would return to overwhelm Zionism and re-absorb it.‖ The economic recession is apparently leading a growing number of stressed Canadians to consult with members of the ―intuitive community‖—astrologers, palmists, numerologists, and intuitive counselors. Seekers are asking these counselors everything from whether the stars are correctly aligned for a new business venture to whether to jump in or out of the stock market. ―There‘s uncertainty right now and people are looking for certainty, says Julie Cusmariu, an intuitive consultant and life coach, who adds that the intuitive counseling process operates beyond the linear, rational mind. Cusmariu was working in business when she became interested in alternative therapies, took a course in energetic healing, and then got two certificates, one as a ―six-sensory practitioner‖ and another as a life coach. She says she ―helps others to connect with their sixth sense. It‘s a direct knowing without direct experience. It‘s beyond the conscious mind. . . I see [client‘s] gifts and talents and help them take steps to open up to possibilities, to trust themselves.‖ Although Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise throughout much of the Muslim world — due mainly to the widespread failure of political and economic development—most Islamists, including the Afghan Taliban, do not advocate or pursue global jihad. Nor do they host terrorists or undertake operations against the outside world. The Swat Valley in Pakistan is a good example of fundamentalists stepping in to provide, among other things, a functioning court system and social order amidst the chaos and corruption of a secular national government. In Northern Nigeria, the Islamic ―revolution‖ of 2002, which was to have transformed the country, has all but petered out; ―The government has helped push Sharia [law] in a tamer direction by outlawing religious militias.‖ Even Southern Iraq, where the Shiite majority has implemented a very strict version of Islam, is not a hotbed of jihad. ―The veil is not the same as the suicide belt.‖ [Fareed Zakaria develops these views in the March 9, 2009, issue of Newsweek.] Jacques Robideaux, former head of The Body [a tiny cultic group in Massachusetts], who is serving a prison term following his 2002 conviction in the starvation death of his infant son, asked in June for a new trial. His attorney argues that Robideaux had not been competent to stand trial and that he should have been psychologically evaluated. Robideaux said at the time that he and his wife believed they were obeying God‘s will by denying their son solid food. As people raised in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, we were especially interested in reviewing Kyria Abrahams‘ new book, I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing, for ―Sacramento News and Reviews.‖ The book is hilarious [says journalist Jenn Kistler]. When I was a child, I tried to convert my friends. In the second grade, I placed the Bible Stories Book with one of them. The next day she brought it back and never spoke to me again. [Fellow journalist Kel Munger reports that] Abrahams says the belief that the world would be destroyed any minute kept me from forming attachments to people outside the Jehovah‘s Witnesses. When my mother was disfellowshipped, I joined in shunning her, and when I was disfellowshipped, she shunned me. When my father was disfellowhipped, Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 61

we were semi-shunned by other members of the congregation, treated like lepers, and we weren‘t allowed to hang out with kids in my congregation, at their houses, if one of their parents was disfellowshipped. Whether or not Jehovah‘s Witnesses is a cult—Abrahams thinks it is—it‘s a very rigidly controlled group that uses social isolation and the threat of social isolation to keep people in line. The pressure to witness was constant. Witness‘s kids taking high school biology had to give their teachers the group‘s anti-evolution book. Our children‘s books had disgusting pictures of things like Jezebel being thrown to the dogs, or a Canaanite getting ready to toss a baby into a fire or into the lap of their idol. The worst part was a section of a big panoramic picture of Armageddon: this little girl, her doll, her dog, and her bicycle, all falling down into this big chasm in the Earth. Gave me nightmares. It‘s probably why I was afraid to learn how to ride a bike. I stopped going [to the Witness church] the minute I turned 18, and so did my sisters. We‘re not the bad kids people said we‘d be. We‘ve all gone to college and we‘ve got our lives together and we‘ve got jobs and great relationships.‖ But Jehovah‘s Witnesses still call us and preach return. . . . A Canadian court in Calgary in May dismissed Lawrence Hughes‘ appeal of a lower court decision in his lawsuit against the Canadian branch of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses. He had accused the sect and its lawyers of being responsible for the death of his daughter, Bethany, 17, who died nearly seven years ago after refusing blood transfusions to treat her leukemia. Hughes‘ original legal action led to his being shunned by his children, divorced by his wife, and bankrupted by legal costs. The fact that Bethany eventually received 80 transfusions was enough to persuade the appeal court that the influence of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses believers had caused ―no harm.‖ But Hughes still has reason for hope as he continues to press his attack on this legally aggressive sect accustomed to mobilizing the courts to block members from receiving lifesaving transfusions against their family‘s or doctor‘s advice. University of Calgary legal ethicist Alice Woolley explains that the judgment is significant in not saying that Hughes was wrong in claiming that his daughter received problematic advice, as Woolley puts it, from lawyers working not only for Bethany, but at the same time for a religious body intent on seeing her denied the blood she needed. ―If I was advising the Watchtower Society [parent organization of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses],‖ Woolley continues, ―I would now say: ‗At some point, this [method of dealing with the blood transfusion issue] is no longer going to work out for you.‘ ‖ Indeed, one of the appellate judges said that the sect‘s advice to Bethany to refuse transfusions on religious grounds—a refusal supported by her Church-connected lawyers— appeared to present a potential conflict between the Church‘s interests—promoting its belief that the Book of Acts prohibits transfusions—and the unique interests of a sick girl. Another Judge said that Bethany‘s mother, as well as the ―hospital liaisons‖ sent by the Watchtower to stay constantly at Bethany‘s bedside, had persuaded the girl to refuse treatment by providing ―incorrect information‖ [about the process], and unduly influenced her, clouding her ability to independently make decisions. Hughes argues that his daughter was the victim of implicit threats of social and family ostracism. ―If you accept the blood transfusion,‖ he says, ―it‘s like someone standing there with a gun to your head.‖ Nor did the appeals court affirm the lower court ruling that Bethany‘s lawyers were not conflicted. ―It is not necessary for us,‖ the court said, ―to decide whether the claims of conflict or misrepresentation were arguable.‖ Woolley comments: ―This is conspicuous. I think if they thought Macleod [the lower court judge] was right, they would have pronounced on it.‖ In any case, the judges refused to dismiss the suit against the lawyers. That decision, Hughes believes, gives him the opportunity to show in court that hospitals Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 62

must be more circumspect in accepting instructions from religious leaders and followers when treating Jehovah‘s Witnesses. ―The Watchtower Society is still in the lawsuit, so that means I can still bring forth expert testimony and evidence [that] when it comes to the issue of consent, I can show . . . that the involvement of the religious defendants removed [Bethany‘s] consent.‖ Critics say that a program developed and taught in both after-school and day classes at elementary schools in Sherman Oaks by Karen Berg, wife of the of the Los Allen Superior Court Judge Dan Heath, in Indiana, authorized Dupont Hospital in March to inject a blood substitute into the anemic daughter of a Jehovah’s Witnesses couple whose faith rejects blood transfusions in favor of faith healing. But the judge reserved the right to transfuse human blood if necessary to save the baby‘s life. A bill introduced in the Indiana legislature a quarter-century ago, following numerous deaths among members of the now disbanded Faith Assembly, would have made it a felony to deny a spouse or child medical care, even for religious reasons, if lack of treatment caused serious injury or death. But the bill was modified before passage; it required only that people report situations in which children need medical services. That law also provides a defense for parents who give ―spiritual treatment.‖ British intelligence chiefs report that scores of youths have left the UK for ―jihad training‖ in Somalia so that they can fight in a ―holy war‖ or train in camps. The number who have emigrated has soared in recent years following the emergence of Somalia as an alternative base for radical Islamic groups, including al-Qa‘ida. Earlier this year, a suicide bomber from Ealing [in England] blew himself up in an attack in Somalia that killed more than 20 soldiers, although most would-be jihadists go to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sheikh Ahmed Aabi, a Somali leader in north London, says: ―I‘m hearing it from parents. They say they [their children] are joining the jihad. This is a big problem facing our community.‖ Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center‘s leader, Rabbi Philip Berg, is bringing religion into public education. In one instance, the teacher of ―Spirituality for Kids‖—which aims to teach children how to make wise choices—tells the students that their reward for figuring out the rules of a game is ―greater satisfaction,‖ which brings ―spiritual power‖ from one‘s ―inner light,‖ which is found ―in your heart.‖ The head of elementary school counselors for the Los Angeles Unified School District says the classes are not religious, and she recommends them. A 2008 Kabbalah Center-financed Rand Corporation study found that the class improved children‘s social and study skills as well as leadership and communications, and helped with behavioral problems. The mother of a child in one of the classes says: ―It was really teaching a belief system as opposed to teaching situational ethics or ethics in general. It was a way of approaching life, which I just didn‘t feel was appropriate for a public school.‖ Leading Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Batzri condemned the warm welcome given Madonna by Israeli government officials when she visited the country in September. Commenting on the Roman Catholic singing star‘s study of Kabbalah in America, the rabbi said, ―No one can study Torah unless he or she is converting to Judaism,‖ and, ―There is no connection between what the singer learns and true Kabbalah . . . No one can learn [Kabbalah] without abstention‖ (referring to the sexual innuendos that infuse Madonna‘s performances). He said stars are interested in Kabbalah because their sordid lifestyle makes them ―naturally attracted to the holiness of Kabbalah‖ as they seek a purer way of life. Since the court-ordered 2007 closing of its school, which then had some 150 students, members of the Mission de l’Espirt-Saint, of Joliette, Québec, are either home-schooling their children or sending them to secret schools in private homes. Members believe that the world isn‘t round and that the sun is a reflection of Hell-fire. Authorities say inspection of the school indicated that the group‘s children were not getting a proper basic education. Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 63

The Lord Our Righteousness Church‘s self-proclaimed messiah, Wayne Bent, having served a year of his 18-year sentence (subsequently reduced to 10 years) in New Mexico‘s Los Lunas prison for molesting one of his teenage followers in 2006, vows in a statement posted on his church‘s website to starve himself to death. A state appeals court recently ruled against him. Bent claimed at his trial that his touching the girl‘s naked body was an act of healing. Bent‘s son, Jeff, says: ―By remaining alive in prison, he [Wayne Bent] keeps the story going, he keeps giving the state power to demonstrate that they have power over ‗cult‘ leaders.‖ At the end of the fourth week of his father‘s fast, the younger Bent explained: ―For him to continue to accept food from the state. . . it is essentially, in his mind, bowing down to an idol. So that‘s why, on religious grounds, he can no longer accept food from the state. To force feed somebody‖ — which the state is considering—―is rape. It‘s legal rape.‖ Members of the Manson Family, all on the verge of old age, continue to be haunted by their experience. ‖I never have a day go by that I don‘t think about it,‖ says Barbara Hoyt, who was 17 when the Tate-LaBianca murders took place. ―I long ago accepted the fact it will never go away.‖ Some of those who aren‘t in prison live under assumed names to hide their past. Others have had surgery to remove the ―X‖ that Manson ordered them to carve on their foreheads. ―Manson made a lot of victims besides the ones he killed,‖ says former follower Catherine Share. ―He destroyed lives. . . He took all of our lives.‖ Former prosecutors worry that Manson, now 74, is becoming a cult hero to a new generation; he‘s the subject of several websites, and Manson souvenirs are sold online. Pope Benedict says the alleged appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) for the past 26 years in Medjugore, Herzegovina, is a fraud, designed by the Devil to lure Catholics from the path of righteousness. (Vatican officials have said that the apparition, nonetheless, is virtually indistinguishable from reality.) The Pope also defrocked Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, the ―spiritual father‖ of the six children, now adults, whom the BVM has allegedly visited at 6:40 pm local time every evening for the past 28 years. Fr. Vlasic, who created his own religious community to service the phenomenon, has now broken with the Medjugore ―seers.‖ Pope Benedict‘s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, neither endorsed nor explicitly denounced the phenomenon, which by the end of his papacy had attracted 30 million pilgrims from around the world. Local Franciscans, who run the Parish of Medjugore, have brilliantly marketed the Medjugore BVM to the world while resisting the control of the Diocese of Mostar. The head of the Franciscans recently announced Fr. Vlasic‘s dismissal from the order. Prominent Mormons who were excommunicated for practicing polygamy have been posthumously re-baptized in Mormon temples, according to researcher Helen Radkey. They include murderer Ervil LeBaron and Roulon Jeffs, former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints and father of current FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Having removed the anti-Iranian terrorist Mujahedin Khalk (MK) from its blacklist, some 100 members of the European Parliament (EU) are asking the U.S. to do the same, citing the self-styled Marxist-Islamist group‘s commitment to the West and its opposition to religious fundamentalism. The New York Times’ Elizabeth Rubin calls the Masoud Rajaviled Mujahedin Khalk a cult that operates like ―any other military dictatorship. No one can criticize Rajavi, and everyone must go through routine self-criticism sessions . . . if there is a sign of resistance, you are not considered revolutionary enough and you need more ideological training. Either people break away or succumb.‖ Other cult-like features include psychological coercion, physical abuse, and forced sterilization. The Niger government has banned Islamic preachers from the radio, streets, and markets in order to prevent ―religious anarchy‖ in this almost entirely Muslim country. The insults that the many competing Muslim brotherhoods hurl at one another ―are likely to upset the Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 64

tranquility among them,‖ the Religious Affairs Minister declared. They will now need official authorization to preach in public areas and must provide authorities with dates, locations and hours of sermons, in advance. Alan Honner pleaded guilty in April in Hamilton, Ontario, to charges of kidnapping and forcible confinement associated with the attempted deprogramming of Mirella Brun Del Re from the North Dominion Christian Centre in 2005. The woman‘s father, a physician, his wife, and his son —all of them scheduled to stand trial in October—allegedly kidnapped Mirella, forced her into a van, and took her to a secret location for 10 days. Ria Ramkissoon and four members of One Mind Ministries, in Baltimore, Maryland, have been charged with the murder by starvation of her one-year-old son, Javon. The cult‘s leader, Queen Antoinette, had said the boy was a demon because he refused to say ―Amen‖ after meals, and she ordered him separated from his mother. Ramkissoon pleaded guilty, but insists that the charges be dropped when Javon is resurrected. It is expected that she will receive a 20-year suspended sentence; her lawyer said she must undergo deprogramming and psychiatric counseling. The anti-missionary group Outreach Judaism has persuaded Barnes & Noble to reclassify as ―Christian‖ the book ―Passover Family Pack,‖ which presents the Jewish holiday essentially as a preparation for the arrival of ―Yeshua the Messiah.‖ The book represents the ritual wine as the blood of Jesus, the matzo as his body, and so on. The publisher, Barry Rubin, president of Maryland‘s Messianic Jewish Communications, says there is nothing deceptive about the book, noting that the term ―messianic‖ appears on the cover. He adds that he‘s not trying to trick Jews into worshipping Jesus but rather to educate Christians about Jewish tradition. A community of an estimated 150 pagans—people who worship multiple gods—has grown up in Israel. This reflects similar developments in Europe and the United States. According to Israeli jewelry designer Alon Kebets, who runs a Wicca website: ―Every individual picks himself a pantheon. There are many options.‖ Kebets was scheduled to address the First Israeli Conference for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality at the University of Haifa in March. The term Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), or Parental Alienation (PA), is used by some to describe one parent‘s poisoning of a child‘s relationship with the other parent. Most credible agencies, as well as the American Psychological Association, do not support the idea, citing a lack of evidence that the syndrome exists. Nonetheless, certain judges during the last decade have sent children to deprogramming or ―reunification‖ centers in attempts to undo feelings of hostility toward a parent. Such hostility may, in fact, have stemmed from abuse, abuse denied by the alleged perpetrator, who defends himself by citing PAS as the cause of the child‘s alienation. According to the Leadership Council on Child Abuse, PAS therapy involves confining the child in a place away from home and isolating her from the parent to whom she is most attached. This attachment is then challenged, and the child, in intensive sessions, is encouraged to reaccept the rejected parent. Sometimes this leads to reunification with an abusive parent, and the child suffers increased symptoms and suicidal ideation; on occasion the child even attempts suicide. Deprogramming here raises ethical and legal questions involving parental and children‘s rights and the balance between them. Joan Dawson, author of this article, is a member of the Family Court Reform Coalition, which helps protective parents, including many battered women, gain custody of their children. She says: ―Deprogramming treatment for children, at least for now, should be confined to the realm of science fiction and not to courtrooms.‖

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Jane Doherty, a teacher in the Washington, DC, area, says that Planet Aid‘s International Institute for Communication and Development, for which she volunteered ten years ago, is a cult. Instead of going to Africa, she was sent to Boston. ―We each had to raise in the neighborhood of $125 a day . . . to go where we were supposed to be going. That is what they told us, ‗You have to complete these goals.‘ ‖ She says she and others were cut off from friends and family and not allowed to sleep much. ―I was less and less lucid. We were sort of as vulnerable as we could be so they could get what they needed from us.‖ Cult expert Rick Ross says Planet Aid‘s parent organization, Tvind, has all the features of a cult, including a leadership that lives very well and ―volunteers [who] often suffer and live in substandard conditions.‖ Leader Amdi Pederson is wanted by the Danish government on charges of tax fraud and embezzlement. The Planet Aid website says belonging to Tvind is ―a lifestyle choice that may not be for everyone,‖ and that ―anyone is free to leave the group at any time.‖ Doherty says, ―If you give money to them, you are giving money to a huge international organization that is manipulative and mistreating young people.‖ Polygamy. HOPE is a small, Washington, Utah-based nonprofit, assisted by a $40,000 grant from a women‘s organization affiliated with the national Presbyterian Church, that helps women and children leave polygamous lifestyles. HOPE‘s Jump Start is a life-skills program aimed to help children 6–17 build self-esteem, develop interpersonal skills, and understand mainstream society. Most of HOPE‘s clients are members of families that have left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Singapore Prime Minister Lee has warned that proselytizing through ―aggressive preaching‖ by religious groups threatened the country‘s stability, noting that a Christian couple had been jailed for distributing religious pamphlets deemed offensive to adherents of other faiths. He also condemned those who try to convert hospital patients ―who don‘t want to be converted,‖ and he pointed to a group that briefly took control of a women‘s association and then declared it opposed the association‘s advocacy of homosexuality. In the 2000 census, 43 percent of Singaporeans said they were Buddhist, 15 percent Muslim, 15 percent Christian, 8.5 percent Taoist, and 4 percent Hindu. Raëlian bishop Daniel Chabot‘s $10,000 lawsuit, claiming he suffered religious discrimination perpetrated by video game giant Ubisoft Entertainment, will soon be decided by a Montreal judge. Ubisoft canceled his company‘s 2003 employee training project—even though the first sessions received good evaluations—when it learned of his Reälian connection. In a taped conversation made available to the court, a Ubisoft executive compared Raëlians to neo-Nazis, which Chabot called an attack on his human dignity and the cause of stress and anxiety. The Sun Media Corporation of Canada has been ordered by a court to pay $10,000 each to two Raëlians for violating their privacy in a series of articles in the Journal de Montreal and the Journal de Québec in 2003. The judge condemned reporters Brigitte McCann and Chantal Poirier, and their superiors, for clandestine, dishonest, and abusive practices. They took pictures of Raëlians without permission. While millions of people believe in reincarnation, few claim to have memories of past lives, which usually arise during the controversial psychotherapy technique called ―past life regression.‖ This method was used in the 1950s case of the American Virginia Tighe, who was purportedly the reincarnation of Bridey Murphy, a 19 th century Irish woman. Evidence showed that the claim, the basis of a bestseller by the psychiatrist in the case, was false. Nonetheless, the idea of reincarnation still fuels a cottage industry of publications and seminars aimed at believers. Religious Conversion. The recently released Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life‘s ―Faith in Flux‖ survey of American religions finds that: half of Americans, mostly on the younger Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 66

side, have changed their religious affiliation at least once; many Americans have switched faiths altogether; the number of ―unaffiliated‖ adults now stands at 16 percent; Roman Catholics leave in disputes over church teachings; Protestants converted in response to life changes, such as marriage and relocation, or because they have come to dislike institutions or practices. The poll concurs with other surveys indicating that ―unaffiliated‖ has been the fastest growing category in the past two decades, although many of these respondents are still seeking a religion. More than half say they became unaffiliated because they found religious people hypocritical and judgmental, too focused on rules and not enough on spirituality. Of the seven percent raised without an affiliation, most have become religious. For all of those who switched allegiances, the reason most often given for joining a new church is the appeal of the worship service. There does not seem to be a basic rejection of the religious worldview in this country, even though 40 percent of respondents say they don‘t believe in God. The Irish Roman Catholic Church‘s Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, following nine years of investigation, was expected in May to make public a report that says thousands of former pupils in state schools and orphanages were subject to sexual abuse during the last 60 years by some 500 priests. A second report will say how the Church handled the multitude of abuse reports it received over the years; critics will allege systematic cover-ups. The Irish government in 2002 offered compensation to the victims— £725 million, based on 10,000 claimants, but the cost will likely be £10.8 billion if the estimated 150,000 victims come forward. Bishop Pat Buckley said that at least 1 in 10 of the 5,000 Catholic priests in Ireland regularly had sex with women, and that 40 percent of Catholic clergy in the country were sexually active. . . . The belief of some Catholics that pedophilia is linked to homosexuality reveals ―woeful ignorance at best, and pathological denial at worst.‖ A contractor in rural Sweetwater County, Wyoming, reports that he has been hired by Scientology to build a 22,000 square foot underground storage vault in which to store documents and perhaps other items. . . . Scientologist Marion Whitta, who came to India as director of a Scientology tour in 2005, intending to stay three months, has remained four years. She says she‘s trained ―thousands of civil defense personnel in Maharashtra, police in Bangalore, Delhi and Mysore, and the Border Security Force in Kilkata [Calcutta],‖ as well as ―hundreds of personnel in the corporate world who‘ve received Scientology training under the aegis of their company. In all, we must have trained 20,000 to 30,000 Indians so far,‖ including Delhi-based actress Sheena Chohan. Scientology mounted a huge and controversial anti-psychiatry display at Concordia University, in Montreal, in late April. The presentation, employing Gothic imagery, suggested that declining education standards, the Columbine shootings, 9/11, and the death of Kurt Cobain, were caused by psychiatry‘s pernicious influence. ―You see these black panels with big, red scary letters. It looks like a dungeon,‖ said a student, who refused to give his name because he feared Scientology reprisals. ―This is Scientology. I knew it right away.‖ Wikipedia said in May that it would ban entries originating from Scientology IP addresses because of the church‘s self-serving Wiki-revisionism. In response to the bad PR its activities have generated over the past couple of years, the church has launched a series of brilliant, new, non-threatening commercials, suffused with a tonal waveform of celestial bliss, that invite fellow questers on a journey of self-discovery. ―One ad [among several analyzed in this LA Times article of 7/28/09) is a direct co-opting of Christianity‘s language of resurrection and eternal life. which is of a slightly different spiritual chemistry than

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Scientology‘s usual promise of millions of reincarnations. In a stroke, Scientology positions itself as Mac in the Mac-versus-PC rivalry.‖ The German government recently blocked filming of the film ―Valkyrie‖ in certain locations partly because star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. . . . A ―non-religious‖ primary school has been established in Brno, Czech Republic, that will employ Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard‘s teaching methods. Scientology ―escapee‖ Paul Grosswald gave a talk at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library in August telling how the organization deceptively recruited, psychologically manipulated, and emotionally tortured him during his six-month involvement. Grosswald‘s parents threatened Scientology‘s New York leader with ―fair game‖ treatment—the phrase Scientology itself uses [for its policy toward ―enemies‖] if he were not released. Allowed 45 minutes with their son, the Grosswalds spirited him away for successful ―exit counseling.‖ The children and former husband of Gloria Lopez have filed a complaint against Scientology, in France, claiming that her experience in the church played a significant role in her 2006 suicide. The family cites, among other issues, Lopez‘s payment of several hundred thousand dollars for church courses over a period of 10 years, despite an income of less than $3,000 a month when she died. Scientology financial advisors, they say, counseled her to sell property she had inherited in Spain in order to free up capital for more courses. The family and her former boyfriend finally stepped in and persuaded her to quit Scientology when the organization asked her to move into its Celebrity Center to cut her costs; she could receive courses as part of her pay. Also in France, 48-year-old Martine Boublilhas filed a complaint alleging that her brother— an ex-doctor and prominent Scientologist—had kidnapped her and tried to treat her psychological problems himself. She is said to have been found, half-naked, on a vermininfested mattress in a house in Sardinia in 2008. Meanwhile, in the government‘s trial of six important French Scientologists on charges of fraud, Aude-Clairwe Malton, a former hotel housekeeper, detailed the process by which she was persuaded by Scientology to empty her savings accounts and life insurance policy, and take out loans to pay for courses, all on the advice of her Scientology personal financial advisor. The state prosecutor referred to Scientology‘s ―universe of secret rules‖ as well as its ―deliberate, planned, fraudulent maneuvers.‖ Malton said that the church‘s personality tests and electrometers were designed to deceive members. Just before the trial began, former Scientologist Alain Stoffen published a book, ―Voyage to the Heart of Scientology,‖ which tells of his ―descent to hell‖ during a decade as a member. He says he was recruited at a music school — he called it a Scientology recruiting ground—and was inspired to join because his jazz hero, Chick Corea, is a Scientologist. . Recently released United Kingdom Department of Health files show that British diplomats investigating L. Ron Hubbard‘s qualifications some 30 years ago found that his claim to have received a legitimate doctorate was fraudulent. . .The British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dismissed as ―misleading‖ and ―inaccurate‖ claims by senior correspondents of The Mail on Sunday newspaper that it has recognized Scientology as a religion for the purposes of the new religious hatred law. The journalists say they relied on a credible leak from within the CPS for their report, and that one or more senior CPS officials had joined or come under the influence of Scientology. John Duignan, a 22-year Scientologist who recounts his experience in the The Complex, asserts that the volume was taken off Amazon because Tom Cruise objected to it. . . Scientology, according to the European cult watchdog FECRIS association, has sent 60,000 books about Scientology to 3,800 libraries in Poland. . . An automated telephone invitation Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 68

to the Scientology Flag World Tour in Hollywood recently began with the voice of Bart Simpson. It said: ―Yo, what‘s happening man. This is Bart Simpson. Haha, just kidding. Don‘t hang up. This is Nancy Cartwright.‖ A Scientologist, Cartwright has been the voice of Bart Simpson since 1987 and has reportedly donated $10 million to the organization. Leaflets delivered to homes in a London suburb earlier this year asking, ―Do you have a loved one or a friend on Drugs or Alcohol,‖ and claiming that Narconon [Scientology‘s drug treatment program] ―has been saving lives for over 40 years in the fight against addiction with more than 200,000 drug free.‖ The leaflet also asks recipients to contribute money, through a secure web page, to support Narconon‘s work. The pamphlet does not explicitly identify Narconon with Scientology. In a submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission, Scientology argues that churches and individuals who have been ―defamed‖ should be able to sue for damages. ―The Church of Scientology,‖ it protested, ―has regularly been subject to relentless ridicule and misinformation by the media,‖ and that police should have the power to identify antiScientology activists associated with the loosely organized Internet group called Anonymous. Serious vilification should be made a crime, the submission maintains, ―the subject of fine, imprisonment, or both.‖ The appeal reveals Scientology‘s concern that its tax-free status, established by a 1983 High Court judgment, would be threatened if the Federal Government imposed ―unduly difficult taxation compliance measures‖ on religions. In response to the May shooting death of Sikh preacher Sant Rama Nand during a melee at a Sikh temple in Vienna, thousands of lower-caste Sikhs rioted in India‘s Punjab region. The events reflect a rivalry between Ravidasias, a lower caste community — not considered Sikhs, although they share certain similarities—and the pro-Khalistanis, older members of the gundawara (temple), a ―hub‖ of Sikh separatists from the 1980s and 1990s ―lush with offerings from a nostalgic and large-hearted diaspora.‖ The Ravidasias in Vienna, who include ―disgruntled loser-caste youths from an increasingly prosperous Punjab, part of ―a rising Dalit [a low Indian caste] assertion‖—set up their own temple, splitting the congregation as well as the revenue from offerings. Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, distanced herself in July from the Buddhist spiritualist Sogyal Rinpoche—one of whose retreats she visited in 2007—following renewed allegations that he sexually abused female followers. In 1995, Rinpoche settled for $10 million a suit brought by a number of women alleging that he abused his position by inducing them to have sex with him. They also charged him with infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, and assault and battery. Rinpoche, also called Rigpa, has had a center in London since 1977. He apparently studied comparative religion at Cambridge University but did not graduate. Juliano Verbard, guru of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, a cult on the French island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, 1200 miles off the African cost, escaped in a helicopter from a prison on the island in April. He was serving a 15-year term for rapes and sexual assaults on children in the group. A psychiatrist at Verbard‘s trial called him ―an extremely powerful manipulator with great intelligence.‖ Verbard founded the group in 2002 after persuading scores of followers that the Virgin Mary appears to him every month. They each paid him $26 for the honor of participating in an appearance ceremony. Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped at the age of 11 by Phillip Garrido, spent seven years in captivity without, apparently, trying to escape, even as she greeted the public at the front door while helping him run his business. The most common explanation for her not choosing to flee is the Stockholm Syndrome—sometimes called terror-bonding or traumatic bonding—the phenomenon in which victims display compassion for, and even loyalty to, their captors.

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Therapists say that Dugard‘s greatest challenge today may be switching loyalty back to her birth family. ―Her captor was her primary relationship and the father of her two children,‖ says one therapist, ―and at some level separation may be difficult for all of them. Any therapy has to be mindful that there are three victims, not one, and that they will be entering a new life together.‖ A psychological trauma expert believes that the case is ―an extreme version of a phenomenon that is really not that uncommon: a child engaged in an abusive relationship when young and, not knowing any better, coming to accept it as their life, adapting as best they can.‖ The major challenge in such cases, experts say, is breaking the bond between captor and abuser. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is the most rigorously tested method for dealing with this problem and overcoming such feelings as, ―I can‘t trust anyone anymore,‖ and, ―It‘s my fault I didn‘t resist more.‖ Many frustrated young Muslim men with South Asian connections, marginalized in British society, are fascinated by the Taliban, support its goals, and hope that British and American troops are defeated in Afghanistan. One such young man patrols his London neighborhood attempting to enforce Islamist morality. Others, including educated men with jobs who rail against British prejudice that they say is holding them back, look to the comeback of Mullah Omar and their own return to Afghanistan. Boys trained by the Taliban to be suicide bombers are prepared in three stages. For two weeks they‘re taught to provide intelligence about security force movements. This is followed by 40 days of militant training, and then by instruction in how to become a suicide bomber. Boys who have returned home from training for one reason or another appear to remain fanatics. Therapy Abuse. The Health Care Professionals Council, in Britain, has struck from its rolls arts therapist Derek Gale—he calls himself ―Daddy‖—for misconduct including inappropriate touching, breaches of confidentiality, swearing at patients, improper social and business relationships with patients, and smoking cannabis in front of them. Gale continues, nonetheless to offer services at £65 an hour on his website. The government reportedly plans to bring all psychotherapists and counselors under state regulation. Tony Alamo Christian Ministries‘ efforts to gather evidence for a civil suit in federal court against the state—before jurisdiction has been determined—are really aimed, according to state attorneys, to interfere in state-court custody actions involving the followers of jailed leader Tony Alamo. The Alamo organization accuses the state Department of Human Services of harassment and civil rights violations in the removal of children from the Ministries. The legal action asks, among other things, that no Alamo followers be required to leave their homes or employment in connection with the suit‘s proceedings. In this, Alamo Ministries is essentially asking the federal court to overturn the state court‘s orders. ―If Tony Alamo were a white-collar criminal, he could hire a jail consultant to help him pick out the right penitentiary. But he won‘t get to choose his own prison, which will be his tomb.‖ The aging Alamo is awaiting a decision as to where he will serve the heavy sentence that followed his conviction for numerous crimes committed while head of his Arkansasbased cult. In a letter to the Orlando Sentinel in April, a mother reports that when her son studied Transcendental Meditation in his high school philosophy class he began chanting and burning incense at home. She sued to remove the course from the curriculum. The school board‘s lawyer argued: ―This is not a class in religion. It‘s only a course in philosophy.‖ A judge ordered an end to the offering, citing a New Jersey decision that TM involves instruction about a Supreme Being or power, which violates the First Amendment. Physicist Victor Stenger, in Quantum Gods: Creation, chaos, and the search for cosmic consciousness, debunks the uses of quantum physics concepts in certain contemporary Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 70

belief systems. One approach—Stenger calls it ―Quantum theology‖—offers quantum physics as a way for God to act in the world without violating natural laws. Transcendental Meditation provides an example of this specious way of thinking. ―Quantum spirituality‖ is equally untenable. It is rooted in the idea that quantum physics connects the human mind to the universe, allowing people to create their own reality. But there is no evidence, Stenger says, that the brain operates quantum mechanically. Beatles Ringo Star and Sir Paul McCartney spoke earlier this year about what Transcendental Meditation had done for them. They were appearing in a concert at Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, organized by filmmaker David Lynch to help bring TM to a million children. McCartney told the audience, ―It started for us when we met the Maharishi in India, and it is going to get bigger and bigger and rule the world.‖ At a press conference, Starr said, ―‖Over 40 years ago, we ended up in Rishikesh. That is where we hung out with Maharishi. . . Since then, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, I have meditated. It‘s a gift he gave me.‖ The University of New Hampshire‘s Diamond Library has mounted an exhibition of materials bequeathed it by the late Betty Hill, who with her late husband Barney became the most celebrated, and some say credible, supposed alien abductees in history. The lives of these civil rights activists—who were invited guests at Lyndon Johnson‘s inauguration—changed radically when, they said, they first encountered aliens, in 1961. The artifacts on exhibit in the library include Mrs. Hill‘s voluminous diaries recounting her UFO sightings right up to the time of her death in 2004. ―She seemed to see and hear UFOs everywhere.‖ White Supremacist activity is on the rise in the Phoenix area, one example being the vandalization of a Hispanic family‘s home while they were away on vacation in Mexico. The perpetrators completely ransacked the place, scrawled ―obscene juvenilia,‖ swastikas, and KKK hats on the walls, and painted ―White Power‖ on a rug. Agus Imam Solihin, leader of the 35-member cult Satia Piningit Weteng Buwono, went on trial in Jakarta in May for allegedly ―inciting hatred and committing blasphemies against one of the religions [Islam] observed [practiced] in Indonesia.‖ Prosecutors say that he: claimed to have received, in a 1999 dream, ―spiritual guidance‖ from the country‘s first president, Sukarno; forced four couples to perform sex orgies— witnessed by him and two teenage girls—calculated to test the participating couples‘ loyalty to him; ―banned‖ a woman, who subsequently died, from taking her medication; and banned his Muslim followers from praying and fasting. Thousands of children in Nigeria, and great numbers in other parts of Africa and the rest of the world similarly accused of witchcraft, are incarcerated, sometimes by their churches, ostracized and abandoned by their communities, and suffer punishing exorcisms. Many of the victims have traits that distinguish them—learning disabilities, stubbornness, and ailments such as epilepsy, according to Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a non-profit that helps so-called ―witch children.‖ The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who recognizes the problem, says, ―We are trying to see whether it is a neglected protected issue [sic].‖ A Lagos, Nigeria, minister says he identifies in his dreams individuals ―suffering from witchcraft.‖ Aid organizations acknowledge that belief in witchcraft is acceptable and popular in some communities; they are simply opposed to the abuse it often leads to. Foxcroft made a documentary last year entitled, ―Saving Africa‘s Witch Children.‖ Fifty yogis met in New York City recently to consider hiring a lobbyist and raising funds to fight a state proposal to require certification of yoga teacher-training programs. Yoga enthusiasts say autonomy is fundamental to what they do; but state government wants a piece of what is said to be a $6 billion industry nationwide, with 16 million practitioners. It has been difficult to regulate yoga studios without appearing heavy-handed or infringing on religious freedom. Last year, the state said training schools would face $50,000 fines if they Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 71

did not submit to state regulations that govern vocational training, but the proposal was withdrawn when yoga proponents protested. The legislature is now considering a proposal that would exempt yoga schools from certification. In Virginia, yoga training programs are fighting a state directive that orders them to submit to oversight. A representative of Virginia‘s Yoga Alliance—which sets voluntary standards that have become the industry benchmark—says: ―There have been consumer complaints to state agencies because of unethical behavior, sand there was no recourse because the school wasn‘t licensed.‖

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