Bishop and Rabbi Speak at Florida Cult-Education Program
The Sarasota, Florida chapter of the American Jewish Committee and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice, Florida cosponsored an important interfaith educational program on cults last October 18th.
Major speakers at the program, "The Challenge of the Cults for Christians and Jews," were Bishop John J. Nevins, Bishop of the Diocese of Venice, and Rabbi James Rudin, National Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee.
Approximately 150 adults and high school students from both the Catholic and Jewish communities attended the formal presentations and participated in extensive discussions. The high school students were drawn from both parochial and public schools.
During the program Rabbi Rudin emphasized the importance of preventive education. "We must immunize against these movements through education . . . There's no reason people should be uninformed about the techniques cults use." Bishop Nevins urged the audience to share the truths and joys of their faiths, and warned "If someone promises everything you need, you definitely have to take another look, because some things are too good to be true."
Rabbi Rudin is coauthor with ICEP Director Marcia Rudin of one of the first widely-circulated books about cults, Prison or Paradise: The New Religious Cults. Rabbi Rudin heads the Interreligious Affairs Professional Education Committee of AFF, ICEP's parent organization.
[ top ]Destructive Cults and the Problems They Pose
The following is excerpted from a presentation made by Cynthia S. Kisser on November 23, 1994 at a symposium held at the Baden-Wurttemberg Ministry of Education in Stuttgart, Germany. Ms. Kisser is Executive Director of the Chicago-based Cult Awareness Network.
Destructive cults pose a real and growing danger in the United States, and, increasingly, in Western Europe and other parts of the world. Some of the destructive cults recruiting in Western Europe either originated in America or use America as a base of operations for worldwide activities.
The age at which one is exposed to and participates in a thought-reform program within a destructive cult is an important factor in determining what type of problems are likely to be created for the recruit.
Adolescents often face less complex problems than do children. On the other hand, they may be more self-conscious than children about sharing aspects of their cult-related experiences because they are more aware of how deviant these experiences may be from accepted social conduct than younger children are.
Adolescents in the United States are usually recruited by destructive cults while they are away from home living on a college or university campus, or after they have moved away from home for work and receive invitations from co-workers or friends to attend a meeting. In these cases, the cult is usually careful for legal reasons to recruit adolescents who have reached the age of 18, which in the United States is the recognized legal age of independence. Parents have no legal recourse for forbidding a son or daughter who is 18 years old to attend meetings of an organization of which they disapprove.
Children become involved in destructive cults in two ways. They may be born into a cult because their parents are already members. They may be brought into the cult because one or both of their parents join a cult while the child is still young, or an adult who is a cult member somehow gains custody of the child.
The risk of harm is much greater for children exposed to cults than for adolescents. First, the children have little or no exposure to any value system which they can use to compare or contrast with what they learn in the cult. This can pose a significant problem even if they leave the cult, as they do not understand that behavior or values practiced in the cult are harmful to themselves or society or that their conduct may be illegal or viewed with prejudice.
Second, the children may have been sufficiently indoctrinated regarding how to relate to non-cult members so that they have to overcome cult-induced phobias about interaction with non-cult members or participation in behavior not previously permitted in the cult.
Finally, recent research in child development supports the position that children who are not exposed to positive emotional concepts such as love, trust, and kindness as their brains are developing may need significant and intensive psychological treatment to be able to understand such concepts and enjoy a meaningful quality of life once they reach adulthood.
There are four specific types of abuse which children may be subjected to in cults. First, child neglect is often present, which can take the form of medical neglect, inadequate living conditions, poor nutrition, inappropriate supervision, and/or lack of proper education. Second, psychological abuse often exists, even in the absence of any physical abuse. Third, children may be subjected to physical abuse. Finally, children in cults have been subjected to sexual abuse. This abuse may occur if the leader is sexually deviant in his/her orientation and wants to acculturate members to accepting the deviant behavior. In such instances, the abuse becomes widespread within the cult, and the children become accepting of the abuse because they have no other choice. Either heterosexual and homosexual abuse of children can occur in cults.
In many instances these abuses occur concurrently. The children become scapegoats for all the frustrations, suppressed emotions, and deviant behavior that originate within destructive cults.
It is critical that the problems destructive cults pose to adolescents and children be addressed on a national and international basis. In America there is now a second generation of youth who have been exposed to the cult phenomenon. The influence these children will have on society and the chances they will have for a satisfactory quality of life remain to be seen. If preventive measures are not taken to minimize the effects of cults on children and adolescents then the potential is surely there for the growth of yet more radical and more dangerous cults than those we already have witnessed.
[ top ]ICEP In Action
Since 1987 ICEP has provided speakers for 142 educational programs. Articles mentioning ICEP or its educational materials or articles written by or quoting ICEP Director Marcia Rudin have appeared in 119 publications. ICEP has been consulted or interviewed by 463 representatives of the print and broadcast media.
Since the September 1994 issue of Young People and Cults ICEP's major accomplishments include providing speakers for or programs at. Rutgers University (three programs for Residence Assistants). North American Federation of Temple Youth Long Island Region winter conclave. Central Synagogue of Rockville Center (Long Island, New York) youth group. Ethical Culture Society, Brooklyn, New York. Northern Valley branch of the American Association of University Women. Temple Beth Jacob Religious School, Newburgh, New York. Ignatius College, Fordham University and mention in articles in. The Washington Post. The Weekly (Sarasota [Florida] and Beach edition). The Priest Watchful Eye (Newsletter of the Commission on Cults and Missionaries/Maynard Bernstein Resource Center on Cults in Los Angeles, California). American Woman. Signs of the Times. Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Redbook.
[ top ]Educational Sessions Presented at Rutgers
Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq., president of AFF, ICEP's parent organization, presented three programs for Residence Assistants at Rutgers University in New Jersey on January 15th. Mr. Rosedale appeared in the programs with an ex-member of a Bible-based group that has been recruiting heavily on the Rutgers University campus.
The interest in cult-education programs at Rutgers stemmed from extensive news coverage, including a large article in the New York Times, of the Bible-Based group's deceptive recruitment techniques on the large Rutgers campus. This news coverage followed an earlier educational program in which several Rutgers University students who are former members of the group spoke out publicly about their experiences for the first time.
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Recovery Videotape Useful for Educational ProgramsThe videotape After the Cult: Recovering Together, released by AFF in the fall of 1994, is being used in cult-education programs as well by ex-cult members, their friends and families, and helping professionals.
[ top ]Important New Book Now Available
Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives, a new book by Margaret Singer, Ph.D. written with Janja Lalich and published by Jossey-Bass Publishers in March 1995, is now available for purchase.
The forward is written by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. Chapters include "Defining Cults;" "A Brief History of Cults;" "The Process of Brainwashing, Psychological Coercion, and Thought Reform;" "What's Wrong with Cults;" "Recruiting New Members;" "Physiological Persuasion Techniques;" "Psychological Persuasion Techniques;" "Intruding into the Workplace;" "The Threat of Intimidation;" "Rescuing the Children;" "Leaving the Cult;" and "Recovery: Coming Out of the Cult Pseudopersonality."
Cults in Our Midst has received high pre-publication praise. Dr. Edgar H. Schein, author of a pathbreaking book about mind manipulation written in 1961, Coercive Persuasion, says of Cults in Our Midst: "Essential reading for all citizens in a free society to learn how even here it is possible to coercively persuade people to give up their freedom and harm themselves and their children in the process."
Dr. Margaret Singer is a clinical psychologist and emeritus adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She has counseled and interviewed more than 3,000 current and former cult members and their friends and families. Janja Lalich, a former cult member, is a writer, consultant, and cult-information specialist. She is also coauthor with Madeleine Tobias of Captive Hearts, Captive Minds.
[ top ]Info-Cult is Valuable Educational Resource
Info-Cult is a non-profit education and resource center. Its objectives are to assist families and ex-members of cults, to educate the public, and to promote the study of the cult phenomenon. Located in Montreal, Canada, it is an important international resource center used by police, journalists, government officials, educators, students, lawyers, ex-cult members, and others.
Info-Cult's Director, Mike Kropveld, is a member of ICEP's Advisory Committee and also serves on the of AFF.
Info-Cult is involved in community education and has recently developed an educational documentary video. It also houses a library of material on cults and cult-related topics ranging from books, newspaper clippings, journals and legal documents to audio and videocassettes. A subject guide and file list guide to the library holdings are now being prepared to help researchers locate material.
Since 1980, the Info-Cult library has accumulated a vast amount of material on cults and cult-related topics covering individuals, groups, and movements. Related topics such as child abuse, sexual abuse, Neo-Nazism and Holocaust Denial/Revisionism can be found along with material on spiritual, religious, therapeutic, and political groups, among others.
The library is the largest of its kind in North America. It contains over 7000 files, 1000 program extracts on audio/videocassette, journals, newsletters, government and legal documents, academic reports, and more than 1500 books in English and French.
For those who cannot visit its library, Info-Cult now offers a fast and convenient research service especially useful for educators and academic researchers. It is also an essential resource for professionals such as lawyers, social workers, psychologists, and government officials who need background material for cases on specific groups or subjects. Info-Cult's librarian, Tamar Granovsky, can be reached by phone or mail to help determine the best research path to take. Research fees are $25.00 per hour plus additional expenses (for photocopies, postage, etc.).
To obtain information about library hours, fees, or other matters, contact Info-Cult at 5655 Park Avenue, Suite 305, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2V 4H2 [(514) 274-2333].
One of Info-Cult's most useful educational tools is its educational videotape Beyond the Mirage. The 22-minute documentary examines how and why people join cults, what the cult experience entails, and why young people are especially susceptible. A 24-minute French version also available, Au-dela des Mirages, varies somewhat from its English counterpart. A two-page guide accompanies both videotapes. Both English and French video versions were directed by Jorge Martinez and coproduced by Info-Cult and Videographe. They are available in VHS and, upon request, in PAL format. Purchase price outside Canada is US $89; it can also be rented for a fee of US $30. Within Canada, purchase price is $110 and rental fee is $40 (plus applicable taxes).
To order, please make all checks and money orders payable to Videographe, Inc., at 4550 Garnier Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2J 3S7. For more information on purchase, rental, or screening, please contact Videographe by telephone at (514) 521-2116 or by fax at (514) 521-1676.
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International Cult Education Program (ICEP) Steering CommitteeAFF/ICEP
The American Family Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt research and educational organization. AFF collects information on cults and manipulative techniques of persuasion and control, analyzes the information in order to advance understanding of the problem and possible solutions to it, and shares this understanding with professionals, the general public, and those needing help with cult involvements.
The International Cult Education Program educates staff and youth in colleges, universities, high schools, churches, synagogues, and other educational forums about cults and psychological manipulation. ICEP is a program of the American Family Foundation. The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Association of College Unions - International (ACU-I) are ICEP Participating Organizations.
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