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Number 2, 2004 |
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Table of Contents
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New! Articles and Conference Reports for AFF News BriefsLast fall's deaths of Herb Rosedale, Margaret Singer, and David Halperin—all of whom were on AFF's board of directors (see AFF's Obituary Index)—necessitated a major restructuring of the board. We have reduced the number of directors to five. Drs. John Hochman and Edward Lottick have resigned and will continue to serve this field in other ways. We thank them for their many contributions to cultic studies. Dr. Arthur Dole and Carol Giambalvo remain on the board. They are joined by Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C., and Professor Alan Scheflin, J.D., who was elected president. We have also appointed an Executive Advisory Board (EAB), the members of which will lend their opinions about various subjects before the Board of Directors and/or the Executive Director, who edits this newsletter (the directors are also on the EAB). During the coming year the EAB and Executive Director will appoint various committees and subcommittees so that our volunteer professionals can become more active and productive in this field. The international flavor of the EAB reflects the internationalization that has become evident at recent AFF conferences and that is inherent in the world wide Web, which knows no international boundaries. These changes were all being planned by Herb Rosedale, even before he became ill. However, his illness and death required that these changes move to the top of the priority pole. That shift in priorities explains in part why we are behind on other activities, such as the Cultic Studies Review. In addition to the directors, the EAB includes: Carmen Almendros; Jose Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D.; Dianne Casoni, Ph.D.; Linda Jayne Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.; Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.; Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D.; Philip Elberg, Esq.; Jorge Erdely, Ph.D.; Josep Maria Jansà, M.D.; Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D.; Michael Kropveld; Janja Lalich, Ph.D.; Ronald N. Loomis; Doni Whitsett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W. Biographical sketches on the EAB and directors can be found here. Update on AFF 2004 ConferencesAtlanta, Georgia (October 15-16, 2004)"Understanding, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Other Groups," Atlanta, Georgia, October 15-16, 2004. (Preconference workshops for ex-group members and for families on Thursday, October 14th.
Education and Research NewsLivia Bardin CSR Book Review EditorLivia Bardin, M.S.W., a psychotherapist in Washington, D.C. and author of AFF's Coping with Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families and Friends, is now the book review editor for Cultic Studies Review. She can be contacted at LiviaBardin@aol.com. Recovery Workshop in ColoradoAFF conducted another successful workshop for former group members, Friday 3:00 p.m. July 23, 2004 to Sunday 3:00 p.m. July 25, 2004, at the St. Malo Retreat and Conference Center, Estes Park, Colorado (1 hr. NW of Denver). These workshops are for former group members only, not family or friends (AFF has other workshops for these persons). Topics discussed typically include: the nature of psychological manipulation and abuse; coping with depression and guilt; effects of hypnosis and trance techniques; coping with feelings of anger; coping with anxiety; decision-making; dependency issues; reestablishing trust in yourself and others; the grieving process; reintegration/identity issues. Nestled at the foot of Mt. Meeker in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the Saint Malo Center is truly a memorable location for this workshop. It is just minutes from Estes Park, one of Colorado's most popular mountain communities and gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a 60-90 minute drive from Denver. Next year's workshop will take place July 22-24, 2005. Interested persons may contact AFF (P.O. Box 2265, Bonita Springs, Florida – 239-541-3081; aff@affcultinfoserve.com) to register or obtain a workshop flyer. Conference on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic ChurchThis conference opens a multidisciplinary dialogue that examines the Catholic crisis from a variety of perspectives, including those of victims, clergy, and psychoanalysts who are experienced in theorizing about and working clinically with sexual trauma. It examines the Catholic crisis in a way that goes beyond sensational headlines and reductionist explanations by providing an opportunity to view this panorama of sexual abuse through new lenses. When: Saturday, November 13, 2004. Registration 8:00; Conference: 8:45 - 6:30, including the play, "The Tricky Part," Martin Moran's 2004 Obie Award Performance about Recovery and Healing Where: Stern Auditorium, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, 5th Avenue at 100th Street Who: Speakers include survivors Kathy Dwyer and Mark Crawford; psychologists expert in working with survivors of sexual abuse - Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, Ph.D. (addressed United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas 2002 on long-term consequences of sexual abuse), Richard Gartner, Ph.D., Daniel Gensler, Ph.D. and clergy - Rev. James Martin, SJ, Rev. Dr. Jill McNish, Rev. Dr. Laurie Ferguson. Martin Moran is an actor and survivor of clergy abuse. His Obie Award one-man performance is a moving tribute to recovery and healing. For Whom: Survivors, mental health professionals, clergy, and the general public Sponsored by: Trauma Treatment Center, Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, New York; Sexual Abuse Program, William Alanson White Institute, New York. Costs: $100 for individuals registered by 10/15, $125 from 10/15 - 11/1; $150 after 11/1 or onsite; $75 for students and psychoanalytic candidates registered by 11/1, $100 after 11/1 or onsite; clergy of all denominations, members of SNAP, Male Survivor, Linkup who are unable to pay these fees: $25 if registered by 11/1, $40 after 11/1 and onsite. TO REGISTER EARLY: We will send out brochures in mid-September. However, we expect a capacity crowd. If you would like to register before receiving a brochure, please contact the conference at Manhattan Institute - 212-422-1221 - or email sexbetrayalconf@aol.com. Conference: Society for the Scientific Study of ReligionSSSR's (Society for the Scientific Study of Religion) annual conference will take place October 22-24, 2004 at the Marriott Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri. The conference theme is "Overcoming Boundaries in the Scientific Study of Religion. For more information: http://las.alfred.edu/~soc/SSSR/index.html. Among the many presentations: D – 3 Deception in New Religions and in the Study of New Religions (AASNR). Organizer and convener: Timothy Miller, University of Kansas. Destructive Anticultism: Adapting Misinformation and Deception about NRM Violence to a Changing Political Climate, Stuart A. Wright, Lamar University. Anti-Christ of the Net? Scientology Online, Brenda E. Brasher, University of Aberdeen. Respondents: Eileen Barker, London School of Economics, Phillip Lucas, Stetson University, Thomas Robbins, Rochester, Minnesota. E – 3 NRMs and the New Age Is New Age Spirituality Better Conceived as Religious Unorthodoxy?: A Comparison between the United States and Romania, Stephen Krauss, University of Illinois at Chicago. New Religious Movement: A Case Study of Falun Gong’s Global Spiritual Movements, Weishan Huang, New School University. Message in the Bottle: Voluntary Regulations within Aura-Soma and Reiki, Jenny-Ann Brodin, Umeå University. Networks, Nuance, and New Religions: Human Potential from Gerald Heard to Michael Murphy, Andrea Coukos and Marion S. Goldman, University of Oregon. I – 3 Extreme Religion. Leaving Extreme Religious Communities, Lynn Davidman, Brown University. Religious Movements and Collective Violence, Thomas Robbins, Rochester, Minnesota. A Phenomenological Perspective on Encountering Death from Bitten Religious Serpent Handlers, W. Paul Williamson, Henderson State University, and Ralph W. Hood, Jr., University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Which Way Islamists? From One Islamism to Another, Abdullah A. Gallab, Brigham Young University. Conference: Society for the Study of Alternative Religious MovementsSociety for the Study of Alternative Religions: 2004 Call for Papers - Deadline February 29, 2004. The Society for the Study of Alternative Religions is accepting paper proposals for their meeting at the 2004 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, TX, November 17-19. Proposals should include: paper title, a 100-200 word abstract, presenter's full name, institution or ministry, and address on the abstract. They may be submitted either in the body of an email or as an email attachment in MSWord of Word Perfect. Proposals may also be mailed via the postal service but in such cases need to arrive by the deadline of February 29, 2004. Proposals or questions may be addressed to Bob Stewart at rstewart@nobts.edu or the following address: Dr. Robert B. Stewart, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Theology New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 3939 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70126. Conference at NovosibirskAn international conference, “Totalitarian Cults and the Democratic State,” will be conducted in Novosibirsk, Russia on November 9-11, 2004. "Where are the borders of religious freedom? Which organizations can be considered religious? What kind of activity may be prosecuted by the law? Freedom of consciousness – is it a personal or corporative right? Does a religious organization bear responsibility for the promises, given by it to the new members? What are the reasons according to which the religious organization can be disbanded? Is it legal and permissible to use the terms “cult”, “destructive cult”, and “totalitarian cult”? What a state can do in order to protect its citizens from abuses and exploitation in organizations calling themselves religious? Can there be introduced a criminal responsibility for mind control and mental manipulation? Does the USA lobby the interests of the totalitarian cults? What is the difference between European and American view of the freedom of consciousness? These and many other questions will be tackled by the specialists, gathered at this conference: religiologists, lawyers, theologians, state officials, administrators, law enforcement officers, teachers, priests, etc. Western countries first faced this problem more than twenty years before Russia and the post-soviet countries. Can we use their experience? Can we learn from their mistakes? It is not by chance that such a serious Forum will take place in Novosibirsk – in the geographical center of Russia, one of the largest administrative, scientific, and cultural centers of our country." For more information: Center of Religious Studies, Pogodinskaya st 20, bld.2 Moscow 119435 Russia, Tel./Fax: (+7 095) 246-25-35. Conference in KievInternational Scientific-Practical Conference: “Preventive means of psychological manipulations, mind control and development of critical thinking for youth”. This conference took place May 27-28, 2004, Kiev, Ukraine, at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. Sponsoring organizations included: Public organization «Family and Personality Protection Society», member of F.E.C.R.I.S., Institute of Social and Political Psychology of Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev City Pedagogical University, Coordination Committee for Interchurch Aid in Ukraine, Ukrainian Center of Political Management. Conference tasks: "Coverage of experience in conducting events and scientific-practical programs in psychological health, prevention of psychological (mental) abuse, dependent states not-related to chemical addiction and development of critical thinking for high schools and Universities. Providing information-methodological materials about psychological health forming, prevention of psychological abuse and totalitarian (authoritarian) thinking for teenagers and youth. Drawing up attention of specialists and public society to complexity of making social-psychological and law expert appraisal of activity with characteristics of psychological abuse, manipulation and mind control as a result of totalitarian (authoritarian) and destructive cults activity in Ukraine." Chautauqua Institution ConferenceRon Loomis organized a conference at the Chautauqua Institution in New York this summer. The conference was entitled, "Cults in Society: The Appeal and The Danger." Day 1: “Cults 101, An Overview of the Cult Phenomenon” (Ronald N. Loomis, Cult Awareness Educator and Consultant). Day 2: “My Experiences in a Cult” (Former Member of The Path). Day 3: “A Religious Perspective on Cults” (Dr. Ronald Burks, Clinical Director, Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center). Day 4: “A Mental Health Perspective on Cults” (Dr. Ronald Burks, Clinical Director, Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center). Day 5: “What Can We Do to Deal With Cults?” (Ronald N. Loomis, Dr. Ronald Burks, Carmen Almendros , University of Madrid). The Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874 as an educational experiment in out-of-school vacation learning. It was successful and now hosts 7,500 people in residence on any day during a 9 week summer season. Over 150,000 attend scheduled public events. The beautiful Chautauqua campus, including a 5,000-seat amphitheatre and several smaller venues, is located on a lake in the SW corner of NY State near Jamestown, close to the borders with PA, OH and Ontario, CA. There is a different theme for each week, featuring programs in the Arts, including a symphony orchestra, an opera company, a ballet company, a theatre company, a music school, a school of dance and visual arts programs; education, including lectures, an applied ethics program, The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, which is the oldest continuous book club in America, the Young Readers Program and special studies courses; religion, including lectures, worship services, and youth ministry programs; recreation, including many sports and youth activities programs; and accommodations, including the Athenaeum Hotel, built in 1881. Some of the most distinguished leaders in US history have been featured at Chautauqua, including Susan B. Anthony, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, Amelia Earhart, Thurgood Marshall, Freeman Dysan, Jane Goodall, Sandra Day O’Connor, Kurt Vonnegut and Bill Cosby. Tvind Alert's Web site down because of lawsuit threatIn April, we received the following from Tvind Alert [feedback@humana-alert.com]: Tvind Alert is still in trouble. Following the threat of legal action by a member of the Tvind Teachers Group, our ISP in Britain has cancelled Tvind Alert's website and we no longer have an Internet presence. We would therefore like to invite all members of this newsletter mailing list to join the Tvind Alert Forum email discussion group, to keep Tvind Alert alive and promote discussion of what to do next, while we try to arrange for the site to be replaced. There are already about 60 members of this interactive forum, ranging from journalists who have written about Tvind, to foreign aid experts, UN officials and people with direct experience as a volunteer or member of the Teachers Group. Basically, people can talk to each other, swap ideas and listen in, which makes us feel good about getting some feedback instead of being in a void. www.humana-alert.com as of the date of publication still says: "Tvind Alert is temporarily unavailable because of a threat of legal action from a member of the Teachers Group. We aim to return as quickly as possible." Donations are requested. Anita Solomon, Ph.D., ABPP, gives paper at APA"The Vulnerable Minds: Kids involved in Cults, as Distinguished from Involvement in Healthy Religious Beliefs and Spirituality." Presentation to APA (American Psychological Association) Division 36 (Psychology of Religion) Midwinter Conference. Loyola College in Baltimore, March, 2004. This paper was dedicated to Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq. and Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D. Chico News and Review Does Major Story on Janja LalichDevanie Angel in the Chico News and Review of 12 August, 2004 wrote a story on California State University, Chico sociology professor, Dr. Janja Lalich. Subtitled, "How Chico State Prof. Janja Lalich went from cult member to author-expert," the articles explores Dr. Lalich's personal experience in a Marxist-Leninist cult, her years of helping others affected by groups, and the professional research that has earned great respect from her peers in this field. The author says, "Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults was released last week by University of California Press and is poised to become a guide for everyone from frustrated families of cult members to scholars interested in her new theory." Dr. Lalich will take part in a meet the author session at AFF's Atlanta conference in October. Lois Bernard, L.C.S.W., opens private practice in Asheville, NCLois Bernard, L.C.S.W. has opened a private practice specializing in trauma treatment of children and adults impacted by sexual and domestic violence. 34 Maxwell Street, P.O. Box 8802, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8802, home/office phone/fax: 828 285-0138, mobile: 828 215-8621. Info-Cult New AcquisitionsThe most recent (June 2004) acquisitions can be found at: NEW ACQUISITIONS. For an integrated list of recent and past acquisitions please go to: SELECTED HOLDINGS RIP: William Chambers, Ph.D.William Chambers, Ph.D., died September 9, 2003 of heart problems associated with renal failure. Dr. Chambers was the statistical expert behind the development of AFF's Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA). Dr. Chambers was teaching at the University of South Florida when Dr. Michael Langone sought his help to analyze data collected in a survey sent to 308 former group members. Dr. Chambers gave hundreds of hours of his time to this project, which has spawned many other research studies, most recently the development and testing of a Spanish version of the GPA. RIP: Eli Shapiro, M.D.Barbara Shapiro, wife of Dr. Eli Shapiro, one of the first professionals to write about problems associated with cultic groups, told us that her husband died in late 2003. Barbara and Eli Shapiro have been long-time supporters of AFF and made many friends in this field during the "old days," especially in the Boston area. RIP: Robert TuckerRob Tucker, known to many in this field for his exemplary work with the Council on Mind Abuse in Toronto, died suddenly of a heart-attack on March 28, 2003 while vacationing with his family in Mexico. After Rob left COMA about 15 years ago, he worked as an elementary school counselor in British Columbia. However, he continued his research interests in the cultic studies field and published a book, An Age for Lucifer: Predatory Spirituality and the Quest for Godhood with Holmes Publishing Group in 1999. Although Rob was not active in this field for many years, those of us who knew and admired him remember his keen intellect and kind heart. We grieve his passing.
Books, Articles, and Web Sites Brought to Our AttentionNew Book by Janja LalichLalich, J. (2004). Bounded choice: True believers and charismatic cults. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 353 pages. Paperback $21.95, £13.95, ISBN: 0-520-24018-9. Hardcover $55.00, £35.95, ISBN: 0-520-23194-5. Paperback available from AFF. Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate "monks" awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives--and sometimes their very lives--to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven's Gate and at the Democratic Workers Party, a radical political group of the 1970s and 1980s, Janja Lalich gives us a rare insider's look at these two cults and advances a new theoretical framework that will reshape our understanding of those who join such groups. Lalich's fascinating discussion includes her in-depth interviews with cult devotees as well as reflections gained from her own experience as a high-ranking member of the Democratic Workers Party. Incorporating classical sociological concepts such as "charisma" and "commitment" with more recent work on the social psychology of influence and control, she develops a new approach for understanding how charismatic cult leaders are able to dominate their devotees. She shows how members are led into a state of "bounded choice," in which they make seemingly irrational decisions within a context that makes perfect sense to them and is, in fact, consistent with their highest aspirations. In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, this important book also addresses our pressing need to know more about the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause. Janja Lalich, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico. She is coauthor of "Crazy" Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? (1996) and Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships (1994). New Book by Andrea Moore-EmmettMoore-Emmett, Andrea. (2004). God's brothel: The extortion of sex for salvation in contemporary Mormon and Christian fundamentalist polygamy and the stories of 18 women who escaped. San Francisco: Pince-Nez Press. 236 pages. Paperback. $16.95. ISBN: 1-930074-13-1. Available from AFF. "A chilling indictment of contemporary Mormon and Christian fundamentalist polygamy, God's Brothel reveals gruesome facts about Bible-based polygamy through the brave voices of 18 women who escaped from 10 of the 11 main religious groups as well as independent families. Their stories include rape, incest, orgies and violence, making this form of polygamy more akin to sexual slavery than to any quaint religious or lifestyle choice." Andrea Moore-Emmett is an award-winning journalist and researcher whose stories on polygamy have appeared in Salt Lake City Weekly. She was researcher for Inside Polygamy, a two-hour documentary aired on A&E and the BBC. Aberrations of Power: Leadership in Totalist GroupsBaron, Robert, Crawley, Kevin, & Paulina, Diana. (2002). Aberrations of power: Leadership in totalist groups. In van Knippenberg, D., & Hogg, M. A. (Eds.), Identity, leadership, and power. London: Sage. In this chapter, several theoretical perspectives are used to analyze the leadership tactics utilized within three manipulative groups; the Peoples’ Temple, Synanon and the Children of God. This case study approach illustrates a number of common features of such leadership. These features include the means by which emotional and cognitive fatigue are used to amplify various categories of leader power, the manner in which assaults on self confidence and self esteem heighten dependence upon group leaders and the tendency of such leaders to initiate transformations of group purpose and group norms. Such transformation provides a means of testing member loyalty, evoking cognitive dissonance among followers and creating a sense of mystery and drama that serves to excite and intrigue group members. Nova Religio (Vol. 7, No. 3, 2004)The Thomas Robbins Award: For Excellence in the Study of New Religious Movements The Beast with Two Backs: Aleister Crowley, Sex Magic and the Exhaustion of Modernity (Hugh B. Urban) JeungSanDo and the Great Opening of the Later Heaven: Millenarianism, Syncretism, and the Religion of Gang Il-sun (Robert Pearson Flaherty) From Divine Light Mission to Élan Vital and Beyond: An Exploration of Change and Adaptation (Ron Geaves) Eschatological Vacillation in Mary Baker Eddy's Presentation of Christian Science (John K. Simmons) Field Notes: Efraim: A New Apocalyptic Movement in the Netherlands (Reender Kranenborg) Review of Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader, Edited by Lorne L. Dawson (Thomas Robbins) Review of Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism by Jenny Blain (Michael Strmiska) Review of Gurdjieff: The Key Concepts by Sophia Wellbeloved (George Adams) Review of Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism By Antoine Faivre. Trans. Christine Rhone (Amos Yong) Review of The Church Universal and Triumphant: Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Apocalyptic Movement By Bradley C. Whitsel (Frank Ferreri) Review of The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought By J. J. Clarke (Robin Wang) Review of Boston Confucianism: Portable Tradition in the Late-Modern World By Robert Cummings Neville (Patsy Rahn) Review of Religion and Social Crisis in Japan: Understanding Japanese Society Through the Aum Affair Edited by Robert J. Kisala and Mark R. Mullins (Richard W. Anderson) Review of Holy Terrors: Thinking About Religion After September 11 By Bruce Lincoln (Ian Reader) Review of The Martyrs of Columbine: Faith and the Politics of Tragedy By Justin Watson (Edward T. Linenthal) Review of Sacred Mountains of the WorldBy Edwin Bernbaum (Joel Geffen) Review of The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs By Brenda Denzler (Robert Ellwood) Review of Children of Ezekiel: Aliens, UFOs, the Crisis of Race, and the Advent of Time By Michael Lieb (W. Michael Ashcraft) Review of Sexuality, Magic and Perversion By Francis King (David Tabb Stewart) Review of Messianic Judaism By Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Haakov Ariel) Review of Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring their Gods to the Negotiating Table By Jayne Seminare Docherty (Eugene V. Gallagher) Review of Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community Edited by John A. Grim (Greg Johnson) Nova Religio (Vol. 8, No. 1, 2004)Cultural Configurations of Mormon Fundamentalist Polygamous Communities (Martha Bradley) pp. 5-19 Church, State and the Legal Interpretation of Polygamy in Canada (Lori G. Beaman) pp. 20-38 Land as Lover (Sarah McFarland Taylor) pp. 39-56 Soka Gakkai in Australia (Daniel A. Metraux) pp. 57-72 Perspective: Toward a Definition of "New Religion" (J. Gordon Melton) pp. 73-87 Perspective: What Are We Studying? (Eileen Barker) pp. 88-102 Book Reviews Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (James D. Chancellor) pp. 108-112 Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918 (Jeffrey Nichols) pp. 112-113 Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism (Gareth J. Medway) pp. 114-115 The Sikh Diaspora: The Search for Statehood (Darshan Singh Tatla) pp. 115-115 The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization (Jeffrey Kaplan & Helene Loow) pp. 115-118 A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age (Kimberly Cton & Benjamin C. Ray) pp. 118-120 Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion (Michael Atwood Mason) pp. 120-121 Free Love in Utopia: John Humphrey Noyes and the Origins of the Oneida Community (George Wallingford Noyes) pp. 121-123 Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture (Jennifer E. Porter & Darcee L. McLaren) pp. 123-124 Children of the New Age: A History of Spiritual Practices (Steven Sutcliffe) pp. 124-129 Psychological Research OnlineGosling, S. D., Vazire, S., Srivastava, S., & John, O. P. (2004). Should we trust Web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptions about Internet questionnaires. American Psychologist, 59(2), 93-104. Internet research methodology has many important advantages over traditional research methods and is a useful addition to psychological research. Many objections against Internet data are unfounded; however, as with any new methodology, caution in its use is justified. Internet research methodology adds yet another approach to the conduct of research. Kraut, R., Olson, J., Banaji, M., Bruckman, A., Cohen, J., & Couper, M. (2004. Psychological research online: Report of Board of Scientific Affairs' Advisory Group on the Conduct of Research on the Internet. American Psychologist, 59(2) 105-117. Internet research is inherently no more risky than traditional observational, survey, or experimental methods. This article describes some benefits and challenges of conducting psychological research via the Internet and offers recommendations to both researchers and institutional review boards for dealing with them. Bishops' Seminar: The Church in Europe and New Religious MovementsDr. Raffaella Di Marzio of Rome, Italy (www.dimarzio.it) sent us a report on an interesting conference/seminar: Baar (Fides Service) - The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) organized a seminar 25-28 March for representatives of Bishops’ Conferences on “alternative” religions in Europe, including New Age groups, meditation and healing therapies, new religious movements outside or parallel to the Christian tradition, and religious groups that have come into Europe from other continents. The Swiss Catholic Working Group on New Religious Movements also contributed generously to the meeting. 24 people represented 19 European Bishops’ Conferences; they included theologians and philosophers, a canon lawyer, a psychologist, and several people who work full-time in this area, some in the area of research and others in counseling centres. The Pontifical Councils for Culture and for Inter-religious Dialogue were also represented. The preparation of the document Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life, published in February 2003 by the two Pontifical Councils represented, was presented by Mgr. Peter Fleetwood (CCEE Secretariat), and Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata (Secretary, Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue). It was a “provisional report”, and there is to be a consultation on the responses to it in Rome later in 2004. Mr. Richard Rouse (Pontifical Council for Culture) spoke of the working document (Instrumentum Laboris) that had been discussed at the Council’s recent Plenary Assembly. One of its conclusions, based on responses to a questionnaire on unbelief in the world today, was that unbelief does not really figure in Africa, Asia and the Muslim world. The point was made that it is rare in North America as well: unbelief is a distinctly European phenomenon. Professor Martin Baumann (University of Lucerne) described the varied situation of Asian religions in Europe, above all Buddhism and Hinduism. Factors like colonial history explain the size and location of some communities, but the numbers of European converts (mainly to Buddhism) makes the picture more complex. Dr. Benjamin Simon (University of Heidelberg) gave three models for the development (ecclesiogenesis) of African religious groups in Europe, suggesting that they interact with local (ecumenical) ventures according to the stage they have reached in establishing an identity. Fr. Joachim Müller (Swiss Catholic Working Group on New Religious Movements) described the religious landscape in German-speaking Europe, particularly Switzerland, offering a kind of “thermometer” for diagnosing whether membership of religious groups makes people healthy or otherwise. Several people gave reports on the situation in their home areas, some with extensive documentation. A friendly but serious atmosphere allowed free discussion on issues like the best way of responding to inquiries about particular therapies, what the Church needs to do to understand why people find spiritual satisfaction in particular groups, and proposing appropriate policies, and the need to capitalize on Christianity’s rich mystical tradition. Participants focused throughout on the service they can give to the Bishops’ Conferences that sent them, and offered them a few recommendations. It seems crucial to recognize the effects of “alternative” religions on the culture being evangelized, and experts ought to be consulted on this. Participants recommended a flexible but regular system of communicating as a group, which could also benefit smaller countries with fewer resources and keep them ‘in the loop’. They hoped there could be further seminars like this one, and thanked CCEE for what some referred to as a “really fascinating” meeting. (SL) (Fides Service 31/3/2004 EM lines 46 Words: 561) Atheism SurveyDr. Di Marzio also sent us the following report: VATICAN - “There is no rise in the number of atheists in the world”, according to survey on ‘non belief and religious indifference’ carried out by Pontifical Council for Culture in preparation for annual Plenary 11-13 March in the Vatican To fulfill the mission entrusted to it by the Holy Father to be at the heart of profound changes at the beginning of this new millennium, the Pontifical Council for Culture felt the need to look again at two serious phenomena: non belief and religious indifference in the world, its actual importance, modalities and impact on believers and the frontier between religion and non belief consisting of so called “new religious movements” or “alternative religions”. Despite all appearances, a longing for God is ever present in the human heart alongside the aspiration to happiness. The 300 responses to a survey carried out by the Council on non belief and religious indifference reveal widespread weakening in Western culture of “faith” (we could say) both in the world of atheism and in the Church. On the contrary Africa, Asia and Latin America are still animated by popular religious piety at the heart of their respective cultures. China is still under the power of atheism like Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba. At the dawn of the new millennium, said Cardinal Poupard President Pontifical Council for Culture, there is a clear decline in membership of major Churches and in followers of major systems, while there is renewed interest for religion in itself, with a swarm of new forms of pagan religiosity. Organized, militant atheism of the past has given way to a situation of practical indifference, in which the question of God is no longer relevant and religious practice is abandoned, particularly in the Western world. This “new face of non belief” puts before the Church a pastoral challenge, how to proclaim the Gospel to non believers, a major theme for the imminent Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Culture. An overall view of the situation of non belief in the world shows that Asia and Africa are still the most religious continents. Non believers in Africa are mostly of European origin, in many parts animist practices continue and Christians often practice a sort of syncretism (Christians by day and Animists by night). With regard to North America, 46.7% of baptized Catholics live in Canada where most people claim to be Christians and only 0.13% say they are atheists or agnostics. In the United States atheism and non belief are not increasing but there is widespread dropping out of specific religious confessions. In Latin America there is growing concern for the proliferation of sects which propagate belief without rules. However Mexico is second in the world for the number of Catholics and Brazil is the country with the highest number of Catholics, who are 73.8% of its total population, while 15% has joined new Pentecostal churches or religious movements and 10% claims to be non believer or with no religion. In Argentina, 4% of the population is declared atheist and 12% declared agnostic. In Asia the problem is not the absence of religion but a superimposition and complex coexistence of many different religions. In Japan 65% - 70% of the people declare themselves non believers although they respect religion and like taking part in religious activities. The Philippines is the only country in eastern Asia with a Christian majority population. The concern here, more than non belief, is a boom in sects and very active cults mostly started by lapsed Catholics. Korea is the country with the highest number of conversions to Christianity. In other countries, Indonesia for example, Constitutions oblige citizens to declare a religion so atheists are not registered in official censures (sic). In Europe, Christianity is widespread but the situation is diversified and calls for special attention in every different social/cultural area. People in the Mediterranean vary between regular practicing believers, irregular practicing, indifferent and atheists. In Italy 14% of the population declares itself indifferent and 4% of these claim to be atheists; in Spain the percentage of atheists is low but it is concerning to note that among young people it is high. The three countries with the largest number of people who say they have “no religion” are in Western Europe: Netherlands (54%), France (43%). Belgium (37%). With regard to central Europe, 25% of Germans say they do not belong to any religion and in Austria there is an attitude of diffidence, for fear of being labeled members of a certain church or religion. In Oceania, according to a 2001 census Australia has 68% declared Christians, New Zealand has 66.1%. 10/3/2004 Agenzia Fides. www.fides.org Yoga SurveyApologia Report, March 29, 2004 (apologia-report@apologia.org) describes a survey on Yoga. "It's No Stretch To Say Americans Embrace Yoga" by Sara Steffens -- summarizes a Harris International market study for Yoga Journal [5] in 2003. "Yoga is now practiced by 7 percent of U.S. adults, or 15 million people, according to a market study conducted by Harris International this summer for Yoga Journal. That's up 28.5 percent in the last two years alone. ... "Three-quarters of fitness clubs now offer some form of yoga class, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. ... "If yoga is changing Americans, so, too, are Americans changing yoga, with a result that looks distinctly different from the tradition's roots in India, which reach back thousands of years. ... "Not surprisingly, many longtime teachers and practitioners share these mixed feelings about yoga's popularity. "One major complaint is that today's students tend to see yoga merely as the process of perfecting difficult poses, ignoring its meditative and spiritual components. "'If I could wave my magic wand, I would like the deeper philosophical aspects of yoga to be taught more,' said Judith Hanson Lasater, a longtime Bay Area yoga teacher who holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and whose books include Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life [3]. 'I would like it if people just knew the ten commandments of yoga, the yama and niyama.' "Those principals include not lying, stealing, harming others, or being greedy, and knowing oneself, surrendering to God and seeking purity and contentment. ... "Among Americans who practice yoga: * - 77 percent are women * - Nearly half have completed college * - 27 percent are ages 45-54; another 25 percent are 25-34 * - Slightly less than 20 percent live on the West Coast, compared to 30 percent in the Northeast and 30 percent in the central United States." Contra Costa Times (San Francisco Bay area), Mar 9 '04, <http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/8140651.htm> A link from this page goes to a second feature from the Times with the same date: "Why Yoga? Why Not?" also by Steffens. She opens: "It may begin with an aching back or the desire for rock-hard abs. But more often than not, yoga ends up taking on a life of its own." Steffens quotes a practitioner who began "thirsting to learn more of the philosophy that underlies the ancient practice. ..."'It has a spiritual aspect, even though mostly what people do is confuse asanas [pose positions] and yoga,' says Lasater. 'I think human beings have a fundamental need for some sort of spiritual connection, whether they get it in church or hiking or painting.' ..."'After a while, people who learn asanas often want to learn yogic philosophy, just as many people who learn meditation end up interested in yoga,' says Lasater." <http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/8140710.htm> The Toronto BlessingPoloma, M. M. (2003). Main street mystics: The Toronto blessing and reviving Pentecostalism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. Paper. 224 pp. $26.95. ISBN 0-7591-0354-2. Second Edition of Saliba TextbookSaliba, J. A. (2003). Understanding new religious movements, 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. Paper. 312 pp. $26.95. ISBN 0-7591-0356-9. Third Edition of Classic Psychology of Religion TextbookSpilka, B., Hood, R. W., Hunsberger, B., & Gorsuch, R. (2003). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach, 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Publications, Inc. Hardcover. 671 pp. $70.00. ISBN 1-57230-901-6. After the New AgeBainbridge, William Sims. (2004). After the New Age. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43 (3), 381-394. This article explores the connections between conventional religion and the New Age, using data from a major online questionnaire study, Survey2001, that was sponsored by the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation. It begins with two competing hypotheses. (1) Involvement in conventional religion discourages involvement in unconventional para-religion because conventional religion competes with para-religion. (2) Conventional religion encourages unconventional para-religion by promulgating supernatural assumptions about the nature of humanity and the universe. Factor analysis of 20 putatively New Age agree-disagree questionnaire items reveals that 15 of them define a general New Age factor, supported by secondary anti-paranormal and anti-alien factors. Three measures of conventional religiousness show complex relations to the New Age items. Analysis using factor scores indicates that both hypotheses express real effects that cancel each other out for many people. Individual subjective religiousness and personal prayer or meditation correlate strongly positively with the New Age among respondents who never attend religious services. The study considers denominational differences, then concludes by showing that a curvilinear relationship exists between religiousness and acceptance of New Age beliefs. The Falun Gong in the New WorldOwnby D. (2003). The Falun Gong in the New World. European Journal of East Asian Studies, 2(2), 303-320. Despite the polarised debate which has raged in the media over whether the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong1 should be seen as an 'evil cult' or as an innocent 'cultivation system', there is little doubt that most objective Western scholars would categorise Falun Gong as a new religious movement (many of which have also been accused rightly or wrongly of being 'cults' or 'sects'). Indeed, the controversy surrounding Falun Gong has attracted considerable media and scholarly attention, so that the Falun Gong is now undoubtedly the best known of Chinese new religious movements and, as I argue elsewhere, a key to the reevaluation of a centuries-old tradition of popular religious practice in China which has long been condemned and suppressed by Chinese authorities. The present article, based on fieldwork in North America, on research in Falun Gong written sources and on my previous work in the history of Chinese popular religion traces a portrait of Falun Gong practices both in China and in North America. Clutching at Certainty: Thoughts on the Coercive Grip of Cult-Like GroupsBrothers, D. (2003). Clutching at Certainty: Thoughts on the Coercive Grip of Cult-Like Groups. Group, 27(2-3), 79-88. This response to Richard Raubolt's article, “Attack on the Self,” attempts to understand the intense and enduring connection that often develops between charismatic leaders of cult-like groups and their followers in terms of their mutual need to regulate uncertainty. After describing “the intersubjective regulation of uncertainty,” a concept influenced by self psychology and intersubjectivity systems theory, a number of uncertainty regulating modes that emerged in the training program are examined including: 1) the denial of difference, 2) the denial of sameness, 3) alter ego relating, 4) the inflammation of passion, and 5) faith-keeping fantasies. Cult and Anticult Totalism: Reciprocal Escalation and ViolenceAnthony D.; Robbins T.; Barrie-Anthony S. (2002). Cult and Anticult Totalism: Reciprocal Escalation and Violence. Terrorism and Political Violence, 14(1), 211-240. Religio-ideological totalism entails an absolute division of humanity into dual categories such as saved/damned, human/subhuman, godly/demonic, etc. Totalistic 'cults' are not necessarily violent, but the psychology of totalism does feature an impulse to validate an absolute worldview by confronting demonized exemplars of evil as contrast symbols. Such confrontations can become violent under certain circumstances, which may include totalistic persecution by the anticult movement. As Robert Lifton has noted, 'Totalism begets Totalism', and anticult confrontations of totalistic movements may themselves take a totalistic and hence persecutory form. Lifton specifies the totalism begets totalism principle somewhat cryptically, and does not articulate either its theoretical or its practical implications in any detail: a defect which we attempt to remedy in this article. We discuss research which documents a cycle of increasing totalization of both the group and the counter-group response, which may escalate out of control to the point that it triggers a violent dénouement. We also develop a model of the interactively totalistic nature of both cult and anticult ideologies and activities which highlights both the psychological concept of projective identification and the sociological concepts of deviance amplification and conflict/interaction. In our discussion of this model we describe projective identification and these sociological concepts as complementary rather than competitive explanations, at different levels of description, of the 'totalism begets totalism' principle. We discuss this model in relation to a variety of research studies on millenarian religious and political movements, including two very different North American governmental reports which were apprehensive of millennial violence in 2000. 'There Is No Place for Us to Go but Up': New Religious Movements and ViolenceIntrovigne, M. (2002). 'There Is No Place for Us to Go but Up': New Religious Movements and Violence. Social Compass, 49(2), 213-224. While the 'cult wars' of the 1970s--1980s largely ended in the USA with the Fishman decision (1990), between 1994 and 2000 mass suicides and homicides perpetrated respectively by the Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven's Gate and the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God revived anti-cult feelings which eventually led to administrative and legislative action in several European countries. The author criticizes two anti-cult explanations of the incidents, one based on brainwashing and the other on psychopathology and fraud, and suggests that scholars of new religious movements and critics of 'cults' may both learn from these cases and start a fruitful dialogue by revisiting the original literature on thought reform and the works of Robert Jay Lifton and Edgar H. Schein. Ultimately, and without denying that 'cults' may carry out illegal activities other than those involving the actual loss of human lives, as far as 'critical incidents' are concerned content-neutral models of persuasions and influence should be supplemented by an examination of which ideologies may be more conductive to suicide and violence. Women After The Utopia: The Gendered Lives of Former Cult MembersBoeri, M. Williams. (2002). Women After The Utopia: The Gendered Lives of Former Cult Members. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 31(3), 323-360. Research on former members of cults, also known as new religious movements, often focuses on psychological issues. Little has been written about the everyday lives of former members, and rarely has gender been placed at the center of analyses. Based on participant observation at ex-cult reunions and in-depth interviews, this analytical ethnography examines the everyday lives of women who are former members of a religious cult. Their experiences and concerns are analyzed with a focus on four qualitative themes: identity, roles, interactions, and contexts. The salient issues that emerge are alienation, depression, spiritual confusion, changing wife and mother roles, limited friendships, sexual abuse, lack of education and work history, and health concerns. The minority status of cult survivor is proposed as a core concept, and the implications of this study for intervention and future research are discussed. Spiritual Identity in Israeli Religious Male AdolescentsFisherman, S. (2002). Spiritual Identity in Israeli Religious Male Adolescents. Religious Education, 97(1), 61-79. Based on Herbert's (1987) theory of ego identity development and on interviews of hundreds of Israeli religious male adolescents and young adults who were raised and educated in religious society and later left the fold, this article presents a model of development of religious identity. Three levels of religious identity development— healthy, unhealthy, and dangerous—are described. In healthy development, adolescents abandon childish faith, confront and deliberate about their doubts, and consolidate a mature and personal spiritual identity. Unhealthy development, which may occur if doubts are not accepted and dealt with, is seen in four forms: sloganeering, diffuse spiritual identity, moratorium, and emphasis on ritual and behavioral aspects of religion. These, in turn, may lead to dangerous developments: (1) joining a cult or enslaving oneself to a charismatic leader; (2) joining a group of formerly religious peers; (3) group delinquency (theft or vandalism) or group use of alcohol or drugs; (4) alienation and antireligious attitudes; (5) inconsistency or "being religious at heart"; (6) solitary use of alcohol or drugs, possibly leading to addiction. Methods of preventing and correcting unhealthy and dangerous developments are presented and discussed. |
