Site last updated on August 9th, 2025.
Site last updated on August 9th, 2025.
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The Anti-cult Movement
Abuses can occur in any group, and it is right for people to denounce them. However, the anti-cult movement often uses false ideas about "brainwashing" to unfairly label minority religious movements as harmful "cults". This can lead to stigma, hate, and even violence against the targeted groups. The articles below take a closer look at the implications of anti-cult ideology and how it has often been a strong influencing factor in the opposition we have faced.
The Anti-cult Movement is making some headway in Australia where they are have rebranded their discredited "brainwashing" theories as "coercive control" and managed to get government bodies to think of ways of criminalizing "cults" and "fringe groups".
Dave looks at a comprehensive list of traits that will supposedly identify a cult. His conclusion is that any new, little group that is more zealous than the older bigger ones will be targetted, at the same time that the same traits will be overlooked when they occur inthe older bigger groups.
Comparisons are made between ourselves, more respectable mainline religious organisations, and groups which even we might be inclined to see as "off", in an effort to find consistent criteria for weighing up various groups. Issues considered are: Finances, Leadership, The Second Coming, and Exclusivity.
An account of an actual media interview, which gives good insights into what it is that really makes people dislike us.
This article was written in response to news reports that the stepson of David Berg (founder of the Children of God/The Family International) had killed one of his former nurses and then taken his own life. It examines how this tragedy represents both the fruit of sexual perversion within The Family, and the fruit of justifications for hatred amongst ex-members.
We attempted to outline to a Jewish film producer the problems he would encounter if he tried to get church leaders to comment on why they oppose us. The producer was not personally interested in thinking through the issues we have raised here, but the letter has been preserved in order to help others to think about the issues.
(See also Why Did They Kill Jesus?.)
(See also Why Did They Kill Jesus?.)
Dave writes as a Quaker to other Quakers, asking if they really want to head down the path that is being encouraged by so many weighty Quakers in New South Wales, which is to "tighten up" their theology in such a way as to be able to exclude any "cults" which may possess the power to "take over" the 350 year old Religious Society of Friends.
Careful analysis of the Catch-22 used by those who supposedly persecute us for having a persecution complex. Gets specific about some tactics used by various Australian Quakers in an effort to destroy our reputation.
The cult-busting mentality labels a group a cult, and then looks for evidence to support the label. It is virtually impossible to overcome such a bias by co-operating with such people.
(See also Sociology Lessons, and Confessions of a Manipulator.)
(See also Sociology Lessons, and Confessions of a Manipulator.)