The Newsletter of the International Cult Education Program, 1996 Fall

 

Since ICEP was launched in 1987 it has provided speakers for 161 educational programs. Articles mentioning ICEP or AFF or quoting ICEP Director Marcia Rudin have appeared in 144 publications. ICEP has been consulted or interviewed by 639 representatives of the print and broadcast media. Since the March 1996 issue of Young People and Cults, ICEP's major accomplishments include providing speakers for or programs at

AFF Web Site Cited as Outstanding Resource

Mental Health Net, the largest catalog of mental health, psychology, and psychiatry resources online, has recently awarded a three-star rating to the Internet web site created by AFF.

AFF is ICEP's parent-organization. Its extensive web site lists and describes resources available providing information about cults and psychological manipulation, AFF's recovery services for ex-cult members and their loved ones, and for preventive cult-education programs. AFF's web site is especially useful for educators, counselors, and other helping professionals and for staff in religious institutions, middle schools and high schools, and higher education institutions.

AFF's web site can be accessed at http://www.csj.org. AFF can be reached via e-mail at aff@worldnet.att.net.

Mental Health Net is a not-for-profit organization located in Ohio devoted to information and education resources online.
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New ICEP College Outreach Brings Huge Response

ICEP's mailing to over 3,000 colleges and universities last spring has generated a response from 513 higher education administrators as of this printing. ICEP welcomes them as new members and as participants in its expanding network of concerned educators.
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Los Angeles Cult-Education Resource Resumes Activity

The Commission on Cults and Missionaries of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles has resumed its operations.

Debbie Pine is the new Director of the organization, now known as the Maynard Bernstein Resource Center on Cults. The program is named in honor of the late Maynard Bernstein, a distinguished attorney in Los Angeles who was a pioneer in the field of cult awareness. The Maynard Bernstein Resource Center is part of the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation Council.

The new hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition to providing information about cults to cult-impacted families and loved ones and to the general public, Ms. Pine plans to offer a speakers' bureau as part of her educational outreach to high schools, colleges, and youth groups.

Debbie Pine earned a double Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California and the Jewish Communal Service program of Hebrew Union College in 1989. She served as an intake worker and psychotherapist at Jewish Family Service in Los Angeles for two years, worked with children and senior citizens as a volunteer in Israel for a year, and was Assistant Director of Hillel at UCLA.
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Cult Expert Undertakes Special Campus Project

Ronald Loomis, a cult expert for over twenty years, reports he is involved in an important college and university campus project regarding the International Churches of Christ (ICC), formerly known as the Boston Movement or Boston Church of Christ.

According to Loomis, the ICC is the group which has stimulated the greatest concern about cults on college campuses recently. It is presently on more college and university campuses than any other group, he explains, and it has become particularly aggressive in its proselytizing. As a result, it has been found that the ICC has violated campus regulations at many institutions.

To date, Loomis has identified twenty-two campuses from which branches of the ICC have been banned or denied campus registration, as reported personally to him by a campus representative or as reported in the media. He believes there may be more institutions that have banned this group that he does not know about.

Loomis claims the principal grounds used to ban the ICC are

  1. violation of campus regulations against solicitation in residence halls;
  2. committing fraud in registering as a campus organization, including use of different names, withholding information about affiliation with another organization, or denying affiliation with the ICC when asked directly; and
  3. numerous complaints from students of harassment.

Last summer Loomis contacted representatives of the institutions listed below that have banned the ICC to confirm that fact and to learn the details. He also plans to work with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) to survey its institutional membership in order to identify other institutions on whose campuses the ICC has been active as well as others which have banned them.

He will also be surveying institutional members of the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators regarding their experience with the ICC because several campuses have reported a scholarship scam which the group appears to be using as a recruitment strategy. Loomis says this typically involves offering a modest scholarship through an ICC-related organization called Helping Other People Everywhere (HOPE) as a mechanism for gathering address and telephone information about students and the manipulation of guilt and gratitude on the part of the scholarship recipients.

Colleges and universities that have banned the ICC or have denied it registration as a campus organization include American University, University of Lowell (MA), Birmingham University (United Kingdom), University of Manchester (United Kingdom), Boston College, Marquette University, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, De Paul University, Emory University, George Washington University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of London, Vanderbilt University, University of Miami, Northeastern University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Smith College, United States Military Academy, University of Southern California, and York University in Canada.

In addition, the National Union of Students in the United Kingdom has advised all student governments to refuse recognition to the ICC and associated groups.

According to Loomis, other names used by the ICC include Agape House, Alpha/Omega, Campus Advance, Campus Christian Association, Christian Advance, Christians Reaching Out Serving Students (CROSS), Students for Christ, Upside Down Club, Club Triumph, Daring Dreamers of Destiny (DDD), FOCUS, Helping Other People Everywhere (HOPE), and Impact.

[Editor's note: Last Spring AFF published a book about the ICC, The Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives, edited by Carol Giambalvo and Herbert L. Rosedale.]

Loomis is the former head of Unions and Activities at Cornell University. He is past president of the Cult Awareness Network, a founder of ICEP and former member of its Steering Committee, and a member of the Advisory Board of AFF. He has presented hundreds of lectures, seminars and workshops for colleges and universities, secondary schools, and professionals in the fields of mental health, medicine, psychiatry, health care, education, law enforcement, and religion throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is author of a chapter in the ICEP book Cults on Campus.
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New Book About Spiritual Abuse Available

Cult expert Mary Alice Chrnalogar has written a new book Discipleships That Abuse. It will be published in November, but may be ordered now.

Written from a Christian perspective yet with an emphasis on psychological manipulation, Ms. Chrnalogar also addresses issues faced by those recovering from cults. The book can be used for discussion in schools, colleges, or religious school classes. Discipleships That Abuse will benefit current cult members as well as families and loved ones, clergy, and mental health professionals.

The 300-page book can be ordered from Control Techniques, Inc., PO Box 8021, Chattanooga, Tennessee, telephone: (423) 698-9343; fax: (423) 629-0082. The price is $20.00 per copy, plus $4.00 for shipping and handling (add $1.00 postage and handling for each additional copy). There is no postage and handling charge if more than twenty copies are ordered. There is a discount of 50% for copies ordered before November 1996. Residents of Tennessee must add sales tax of 7.25%.
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Illinois Mental Health Professional Shares Program Outline

For several years ICEP has been networking with Michael Kleppin, MS Ed., CADC, who is Director of New Choice, a Chemical Dependency Treatment program at The Pavilion in Champaign, Illinois. Mr. Kleppin frequently presents an educational program "Witchcraft, Satanism, and the Occult: Recognition and Prevention/Counseling Alternatives to Individuals with Occultic or Satanic Belief Systems." He has offered this program to counselors, law-enforcement officials, parents, educators, and other helping professionals.

Mr. Kleppin has agreed to share the outline of his presentation with Young People & Cults, which follows below.

Mr. Kleppin introduces his presentation by explaining that in homes, schools, and treatment centers today many professionals are being confronted with individuals who have a history of occult involvement. These individuals range from the adolescent dabbler to the adult ritual abuse survivor. Often the symptoms and indicators go unnoticed to those close to the practitioner. At other times, the behaviors or indicators may be identified and at best briefly discussed or addressed. Almost always this phenomenon frightens some or all of those who attempt to confront it.

His presentation addresses the topics of occultic and satanic identification in those clients involved. Discussion includes information about ritual activities, identification of behaviors, and treatment options for dealing with the behaviors and beliefs of this unique population. His program includes handouts, a glossary of occultic terminology, slides, and examples of reading materials used by those practicing these beliefs.

I. Caveat and Introduction

A. Presentation is to examine objectively, not to encourage or disqualify
B. Where speaker's interest came from and subsequent and continual research on the topic

II. Properly Defining Commonly Used Terms

A. Cults
B. Occult(ic)
C. Paganism
D. Ritualistic
E. Witchcraft/Wicca
F. Devil/Demonic/Satanic

111. Perspectives on the Occult

1V. Witchcraft/Wicca

A. History and origin
1. Deities; 2. Tenants

B.Types
1. The practice of...; 2. The belief of...

C. Styles
1. White wicca; 2. Gray wicca; 3. Black wicca

D. Differences and similarities with satanism

V. Devil/Demon Worship

A. Differences and similarities between devil worship, wicca and satanism
B. Identifying certain demonic deities and why practitioners would worship
C. Discussing pathologies of specific practitioners

V1. Satanism

A. History and origin
1. Biblical; 2. Medieval; 3. Modern

B. Popular churches/covens
1. Church of Satan; 2. Temple of Set; 3. Other

C. Types of ideology and theology
1. Entity/supernatural; 2. Attitude/behavioral

D. General tenets and beliefs

V11. Occult Calendar

A. Explanation of dates, types and uses
B. Historical and geographic information on ancient rituals
C. Modern holidays and the connections with their pagan roots

V111. Symbols Common in the Occult

A. Meanings of symbols used
B. History of symbols used
C. Groups associated with symbols used

1X. Levels of Ritualistic Participation

A. Dabbler
B. Self-Styled
C. Religious
D. Inter-generational

X. Dabblers

A. Reasons and justifications for dabbling
B. Behavioral indictors and identification
C. Ideologies and attitudes associated with dabblers
D. Materials associated with dabblers
E. Art and music
F. Differential diagnosis in dabblers

1. Pseudo-intellectual; 2. Psycho-pathological; 3. Angry misfit; 4. Suicidal

X1. Family Dynamics of the Dabbler

A. Predisposing factors
1. Emotional withdrawal; 2. Violence; 3. Hypocrisy

B. Patterned responses to family member's participation
1. Incomprehension; 2. Anger; 3. Ambivalence

C. Approaches and avenues to take
D. Issues to be aware of
E. Support and education

X11. Self-Styled Practitioners

A. Reasons and justifications
B. Behavioral indicators and identification
C. Treatment approaches and issues

X1II. Religious Practitioners

A. Reasons and justifications
B. Theology and ideology of beliefs
1. Dualism; 2. Backwards thinking; 3. Tenets/satanic statements

C. Modes-operandi
1. Covert; 2. Overt

XIV. Religious practitioners and treatment
A. Constitutional rights
B. Using systems to the therapist's advantage

XV. Inter-generational Practitioners
A. Reasons and justifications for beliefs
B. Theology and ideology of beliefs
C. Ritualistic abuse

XV1. Ritualized Abuse
A. Definition and origin
B. Reasons for abuse
C. Types
1. Cult-based;2. Pseudo-ritualized;3. Psychopathological

D. Systems targeted
1. Family;2. God; 3. Country

E. Ways programming/brainwashing occurs

XV11. Symptoms of Ritualized Abuse
A. Behavioral symptoms
B. Emotional symptoms
C. Cognitive symptoms

XV1II. Survivors in Treatment
A. DSM 1V criteria
B. Approaches and avenues
C. Issues to be aware of
D. B.A.S.K. model of treatment
1. Behavior; 2. Affect; 3. Sensation; 4. Knowledge

IX. False Memory Syndrome (FMS)
A. Definition of FMS
B. Why would anyone fake abuse?
C. General rules to follow to help integrity

XX. Therapy Interventions for All four Levels
A. General directions to take in treatment
B. Group sessions
C. Family's focus
D. Client's focus
E. Points for therapists to remember

XX1. Resources throughout the U.S.

XX11. Questions and Closure

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ICEP Director Participates in Important Panel

On April 23 ICEP Director Marcia Rudin spoke about cults as part of a panel at the 1995-96 Unity Speaker Series, a prestigious program sponsored monthly by Brooklyn [NY] Borough President Howard Golden. The topic for the April panel discussion was "The Origins of Extremism."

Other panelists included Kenneth S. Stern, author of A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate; Hugh Pearson, author of The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America; Jeffrey Ross, Director of Campus Affairs and Higher Education for the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith; and Wayne C. Winborne, National Director, Program and Policy Research, The National Conference.

The American Family Foundation, a tax-exempt research center and educational organization founded in 1979, consists of an administrative staff and more than 150 independent professionals working together. AFF's mission is to study psychological manipulation and high-control and cultic groups; to educate youth, the public, and professionals about the subject; and to help families and ex-cult members.

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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