SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures
University of Virginia
Department of Sociology
Jeffrey K. Hadden

The Anti-Cult Movement

Lecture Outline:

The Social Context of the Anti-cult Movement

Organizational Opposition to "Cults"

The Development of the Anti-cult Movement

Professionalization of the Anti-cult Movement

Suggested Readings

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Part I: The Social Context of the Anti-cult Movement

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Religious tolerance from the Pilgrim fathers forward:

"Despite all the elegant rhetoric about the Pilgrim fathers...Amerian has not set an exemplary record in the area of religious freedom. The English Calvinists who settled in Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay did not come to found a society where spiritual liberty would reign supreme. They came to found a theocracy, as the four Quakers...who were hanged on Boston Common between 1659 and 1661 soon found out. Unpopular and unconventional religious beliefs and practices were not only unwelcome, they were not tolerated. Roger Williams, a Baptist, was hounded into the frozen wilderness. When Henry Dunster, the president of Harvard College, decided not to have his fourth infant baptized because he had come to accept adult baptism, he was forced to retire. Later on, in other parts of the country, Mormons, Jews, Masons, Jesuits, and ordinary Roman Catholics felt the hard edge of harassment and discrimination because of their religious convictions. A couple of generations ago, Jehovah's Witnesses were the main target of prejudice. Now we have the 'cults.' It seems Americans are never really happy unless there is some unfamiliar religious group to abuse. The spirit of theoracy lingers on."

Harvey Cox, Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

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New religions challenge the status quo and, thus, are co-participants in the production of religious conflict. Cults and sects, by definition, exist in high tension with society.

• They have a vision of culture at variance with the established order.
• Proclaiming that established religious groups are wrong is to invite a fight.
• The response of established groups is roughly proportional to the perception of threat to the established order.
• The greater the perceived threat, the greater the mobilization to respond.

Conflict between new religions and the established order may go beyond religious ideology

• Immigrant groups (who are often of a single faith tradition) my constitute an economic threat because they flood the labor market with cheap labor.
• Anti-Catholicism in the 19th century was partially attributable to the fact that Catholic leadership was not interested in assimilation.
• Mormons sought to create a theocratic government independent of the U.S. government; they printed their own currenty, established a militia, etc.

Three arenas where conflict occurs:

• Family
• Churches
• Government

Response to NRMs takes predictable patterns

• Allegations of danger
  • Deception and coercion
  • Illegitimacy of beliefs
  • Sexual perversion
  • Political subversion
  • Financial exploitation

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Part II: Organizational Opposition to "Cults"

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Four distinct classes of opposition can be identified:

1. Religious opposition
2. Secular opposition
3. Apostates
4. Entrepreneurial opposition

1. Religiously grounded opposition

• Opposition usually defined in theological terms
• Cults viewed as engaging in heresy
• Mission is to expose the heresy and correct beliefs of those who have strayed from truth
• Deception rather than possession is the likely metaphore
• Opposition serves two important functions:
  • protects members (especially youth) from heresy
  • increases solidarity among the faithful

2. Secular opposition

• Individual autonomy is professed to be the manifest goal. This is achieved by getting people out of religious groups.
• The struggle is about control, not about theology.
• Organized around families who have or have had children involved in a "cult."
• Disabling or destruction of NRMs organizationally is latent goal.

3. Apostates

• apostasy = the renunciation of a religious faith
• apostate = one who engages in active opposition to their former faith
• anti-cult movement -- has actively encouraged former members to interpret their exerience in a "cult" as one of being aggregiously wronged and encourages participation in organized anti-cult activities.

4. Entrepreneurial opposition

• Individuals who take up a cause for personal gain.
• Alliance or coalition to promote their agenda is ad hoc.
• Broadcasters and journalists leading examples.
• A few entrepreneaurs have made careers by creating organized opposition.

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Part III: The Development of the Anti-cult Movement

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Two major thrusts of opposition to new religious movements:

• Evangelical Christians
  • Primary focus is defense of the faith and
  • Protection of youth against heretical beliefs
• Secular Organizations
  • Duel foci of removing people from NRMs and
  • Systematically disabling or destroying new religions

Evangelical opposition to NRMs

• Evangelicals tend to be committed to "correct" doctrine and behavior.
  There is a long tradition of preaching against the "sins" of other Christians who profess "false" doctrines or permit improper behavior.
• Some of that energy focuses on sectarian and cultic practices and beliefs.
• Organization against "false" religions has always been diffuse.

Examples of evangelical organizations that focus on defense against false doctrine.

• Christian Research Institute
  • Walter R. Martin,Founder
• Watchman Fellowship
• Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
• Ecumentical Ministries to New Religions
• Spiritual Counterfeits Project
• Group specific organizations

Secular opposition emerges from partental groups

• Cult Awareness Network [defunct]
• American Family Fondation
• The Resource Center for Freedom of Mind
• Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
  

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Part IV: The Professionalization of the
Anti-cult Movement

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Development of the Cult Awareness Network

• 1972
• 1973
• 1974
• 1985 - present
• 1990s

The Professionalization of the Anti-cult Movement

FROM:

• The kitchen table
• Distraught parents
• Fly-by-night deprogrammers
• Emotional perspective
• Legal defensiveness
• Invisible underground movement
• Limited goals
• Narrow definition of cults

Expanding definition of "cults"

• Fundamentalist and pentecostal Protestants
• Psychotherapy groups
• Awarness training / self-help
• Satanism
• Fringe political organizations

From an operational perspective......

• If you don't like a group that someone is in and you can pay our fees ... it's a cult!
• If we don't have materials on file to "prove" it is a cult, we'll cook em while you wait!!!
• [no charity cases please]

Who benefits from anti-cult organizations?

• ACM workers - jobs
  • Organizational workers/speakers
  • Deprogrammers
  • Select mental health workers
  • Lawyers
• Parents - reasserting authority over children
• Select evangelical Christian groups
• Mass media - good stories

Fighting back....

• When an organization is under attack, it is inevitable that the organization will mobilize resources to defend itself ...
• Organizations with abundant resources could be expected not just to defend itself, but to fight back.
• The Unification Church and Scientology, the two NRMs with the largest fiscal resources have chosen to fight in radically different ways.

Unification Church has sought legitimacy

• From Rev Moon's first trip to the U.S. right up to the present moment, the Unification Church has sought to present itself as a legitimate religion deserving of respect.
• The principle instrument for the pursuit of legitimacy has been $$$$$$$.
• To a much lesser degree it has played the race card, claiming the Moon has encountered a difficult time in America because he is an Asian.

Scientology has aggressively fought back

• The first theological imperative of Scienology is survival.
• Scientology's quickness to draw the sword and go to battle has made it perhaps the most unpopular NRM in America.
• At the same time, Scientology has clearly increased the cost of business for the anti-cultists.

Sympathetic supporters and defenders of the First Amendment

• Defenders of the first Amendment are typically defenders of NRMs.
• In additional to principled defenders, NRMs have participated in funding groups devoted to defending religious liberty.

Coalition for Religious Freedom

Uncomfortable unlookers.....

• Academic scholars have sometimes gotten caught between a rock and a hard spot...
• Defenders of religious liberty, they don't want to become partisians.
• Yet.....
  • NRMs are constantly seeking to coop academis into their camp.
  • CAN casts a blanket indictment agains all academics who are not on their side.

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Last updated: 01/13/00