[ot] cult influence and power, 1988-2018

[Undiscussed Groomed for Male Slavery, One Victim of Many]

Chapter 12–Next Steps


				_
I knowbut one freedom & that is the freedom of the mind_
								Antoinede Saint-Exupéry
				
				
				The unethical use of mind control has reached the point where it
is a major social problem, not only in the United States but across
the globe. Human traffickers enslave hundreds of thousands of people
in this country and millions worldwide. Organizations such as the
Unification Church, Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses and countless
others are affecting the lives of millions of people all over the
world. Destructive cults such as ISIS/Daesh[193] and other extreme
terrorist groups have gained considerable political attention (if not
power) by playing out their grisly activities on the world stage. Some
groups, such as Al Qaeda, have managed to invade our shores by
influencing domestic terrorists, like those who committed the Boston
Marathon bombing. Freeman-On-The-Land, also known as Sovereign
Citizens, is listed on the FBI’s domestic terror watchlist.[194]

				Groups are exerting their influence economically, through their
“training” courses for business people in key positions in corporate
America. Cults are also gaining ground among the waves of Asian and
Hispanic immigrants to the United States, moving beyond their
traditional recruitment of the white middle class, which has allowed
them to broaden their financial base. People in other parts of the
world, who are enamored of the “American dream,” are falling prey to
U.S. based Bible cults and multi-level marketing (MLM) groups.

				Many cult groups have become so skilled at their public relations
work that they have gained a high degree of social acceptance, even
among prominent professionals. One ploy taken by wealthier groups is
to lure respected professionals—scientists, lawyers, politicians,
academicians, clergy—to speak at cult-sponsored conferences by
offering them large honoraria, often at conferences held in exotic
locations, with all expenses paid. These invited speakers may not know
or even care about the cult involvement, but their mere presence at
such conferences gives tacit approval to the cult. For instance,
former British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, attended Moonie
conferences. Sociologist Eileen Barker, who wrote _The Making of a
Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing_ and made her professional career
saying my life work was mistaken, admits to attending 14 such
conferences, but claims that this has not affected her objectivity!

				My concern about cults is broad and urgent. Their activities, if
unchecked, will continue to wreak untold psychological and, at times,
even physical damage, on many thousands, if not millions, of people
who do not understand what constitutes unethical mind control. Unless
legislative action is taken to make destructive cults accountable to
society for violating the rights of their members, these groups will
continue to deceive the general public into believing that they are
doing nothing out of the ordinary.

				Speaking practically, I realize that many will be reluctant to add
yet another issue to their list of serious concerns. Every day, when
we read a newspaper or watch the TV news, we are confronted by the
threat of nuclear war, global climate change, massive destruction of
the earth’s natural resources, starvation in Africa, widespread
political corruption, deadly microbes like the Ebola virus and so many
other concerns. Why add another? Because like Ebola, the mind control
viruses of cults sicken and drain life from human beings. Unless they
are contained, they will continue to spread, infecting ever more
people.

				Furthermore, like biological viruses, cults adapt to take
advantage of human weaknesses. They exploit legal loopholes to escape
prosecution. They manipulate and subvert Internet search engines to
bury criticism that might alert people to their unethical behavior.
They pour out scorn and disinformation about former members. They use
social media to recruit new members.

				Thousands of stories about cults have appeared in the media in the
past few years, yet few address the issue of mind control directly.
They tend to be presented as stories about strange or controversial
“religions” rather than about people who have been deceptively
recruited and controlled through mind control. Media attention usually
dies down after the big stories—Charles Manson, the Jonestown
massacre, Waco, Heaven’s Gate, and the Tokyo subway sarin gassing by
Aum Shinrikyo.[195] It may seem that there are fewer cults because
there have been fewer big stories, and as I’ve mentioned, many people
with whom I come into casual conversation on the subject of
destructive cults express surprise when I tell them that such groups
are still a major problem in American society.

				Imagine, then, how they react when I tell them that this lack of
awareness is the result of disinformation campaigns, not just by cults
but by the very institutions that are supposed to protect our
constitutional freedoms.


				Cults And The United States Government

				Public reaction to the Jonestown massacre on November 18, 1978,
was shock and disbelief. The murder of a United States congressman
showed that some cult leaders would stop at nothing to keep anyone,
especially someone in a legitimate position of authority, from
exposing them to public scrutiny.

				I was deeply saddened by news of the assassination of congressman
Leo Ryan. I knew that he was highly knowledgeable and concerned about
destructive cults. He had been a leading member of the Congressional
investigation of Korean-American Relations headed by congressman
Donald Fraser. Released on October 31, 1978—just a few short weeks
before the mass suicide at Jonestown—the Fraser Report, as it came to
be known, recommended that an Executive branch inter-agency task force
be set up to pursue illegal activities committed by the Moon
organization.[196]

				No action was taken on that recommendation. (Moon was convicted
four years later of felony tax fraud, and served thirteen months in a
minimum security prison in Danbury, Connecticut).

				It seemed that something was being done about the cult problem,
given all the activity on Capitol Hill, in the late 1970s. After
Jonestown, Congress launched a formal inquiry. On May 15, 1979, a
House Foreign Affairs Committee issued its report, describing in
detail the brainwashing tactics of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.
They concluded by recommending that the National Institute of Mental
Health be given funds to further research on mind control and
destructive cult groups.

				Nothing was ever done to follow up on that recommendation, either.

				However, Senator Bob Dole did put together a hearing on cults
after Jonestown at which I was invited to speak. On the morning of the
hearing, I was suddenly told that no former cult member would be
permitted to speak. We were told that this was to avoid allowing
current cult members equal time to speak. Yet in the hearing
room—which was filled with ex-members holding up signs saying, “Elect
Bob Dole President, Repeal the First Amendment”—we found that Neil
Salonen, the spokesperson for the Moonies, had, nonetheless, been
allowed to deliver a statement. I was beginning to realize the
political clout of the cults. But I came to realize much more.

				What the Jonestown “inquiry” showed me—and many others—was that in
the face of an outrageous and evil act, the best our government could
do was to hold a highly-censored hearing—a public show that neither
got to the details of what happened nor took steps to see that such
terrible events would never happen again.

				The government had failed us but, as we were soon to learn, it had
done far worse. It turns out the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had
been conducting its own mind control research. It was experimenting
with some of the very same techniques—and some far more ruthless—that
had killed over 900 people at Jonestown. What’s more, it had been
carrying out these covert experiments on an often unwitting group of
Americans since the late 1940s. The government was guilty of the very
offense it claimed to be protecting us from.

				Credit goes to author John Marks, who in 1975 read one sentence in
a government report that led him to investigate the CIA’s secret
activities. In 1979, he published his famous _The Search for the
Manchurian Candidate_, to widespread national attention. Inspired by
Marks’ initial discoveries, Alan W. Scheflin and Edward M. OptonJr.
undertook complementary research, which culminated, also in 1979, with
the publication of _The Mind Manipulators_.

				Both books laid out in detail the mind control research that was
being performed by the Central Intelligence Agency from the late 1940s
through the early 1960s, and that involved subcontractors at over 80
American institutions. Code-named MK-ULTRA, the CIA’s mind control
research program was a clandestine and illegal program of experiments
on human subjects that was intended to identify methods that could be
developed for use in interrogations and torture. MK-ULTRA left no
stone unturned in the quest to find ways to manipulate people’s mental
states, alter their brain functions, and control their behavior.

				The techniques used in MK-ULTRA’s experiments ranged from the
chemical—LSD and other psychotropic drugs (including the notorious BZ,
which never leaves the human system and was given to hundreds of
unsuspecting GIs); to the physical—brain surgery, electroshock; to the
psychological—sensory deprivation, isolation, hypnosis, sexual and
verbal abuse, and more. Scheflin and Opton actually uncovered a 1953
speech by Allen Dulles, then CIA director, frankly admitting this to
be true.[197] Dr. Ewan Cameron, who was president of the Canadian,
American and World Psychiatric Association, supervised mind control
research in a Canadian psychiatric hospital.

				This meant that at the same time that the government was dropping
the ball on the Jonestown investigation, it was covering up a program
far beyond anything that Jim Jones could have ever imagined.

				Other researchers attempted to follow up on this work but, by
then, the CIA—in violation of many federal laws—had destroyed almost
all of its relevant files. The MK-ULTRA records were virtually all
destroyed except for a few boxes of financial records, making it
impossible for investigators to find out what really happened. ABC
aired an excellent documentary on the secret program called _Mission
Mind Control_.

				In 1975, a Congressional committee, led by Senator Frank Church,
decided to investigate. The Church Committee set out to unearth the
full scope of the research but, at its hearings, it became clear that
it had not been able to go beyond the discoveries made by private
researchers. The committee was derailed by the same two CIA
strategies, leaving the public in the dark.

				First, the CIA leaked information about its attempted
assassinations of world leaders, which sent the Committee—and the
media—running after that story. It then claimed that the MK-ULTRA was
a “rogue elephant”—the brainchild of a few overzealous agents who
worked on it, without the knowledge of their higher-ups. Members of
the committee bought these explanations, thereby missing the fact,
stated explicitly in Dulles’s 1953 speech, that knowledge of—and
responsibility for—the program went all the way to the very top of the
CIA. Thousands of people were experimented on, which makes it
impossible to believe that this was not a significant program. It is
also true that at that time almost all social psychological research
was actually funded by the U.S. government. Thankfully, Milgram and
Zimbardo published their results.[198] I knew first-hand that
techniques for mind control were real—I had lived in a mind control
environment and practiced it on others. I had researched the subject
of mind control, and had the great fortune to speak with top experts
on the subject, such as Robert Jay Lifton and Margaret Singer. I knew
that no self-respecting psychologist would deny that there was useful
information in mind control research—information that _could_ be used
to affect people, for better or worse. But the revelations about the
MK-ULTRA—and its cover up—forced me to confront another set of
questions that demanded answers.

				Why wasn’t the federal government informing the American people
about the dangers of mind control? Why was the issue continually
shuffled into a discussion of religious liberty and the First
Amendment? To this day, there has been no official government
statement on the existence—let alone the dangers—of mind control.

				European countries, including Germany, France and Belgium, have
recently recognized the dangers posed by mind control cults and have
created task forces to investigate them. There is apparently no such
initiative on the part of the U.S. government—not by the FBI, CIA,
Homeland Security, or any other intelligence-gathering agency—despite
the threat that they have posed to our national safety. It’s about
time the Surgeon General, or some other high-ranking government
official, made such a statement.

				Perhaps there are other political explanations for why the
government does not admit to any knowledge of mind control techniques.
Whatever the reasons, there is now little doubt that, during those
decades, the American people unwittingly spent millions of dollars on
mind control research. That money would have been far better spent
investigating the devastating effects of mind control in cult groups.
Former members present a tremendous opportunity for researchers, but
there is no political will for such an investigation.

				I am not against research into mind control. To the contrary, as a
mental health professional, I am heartily in favor of ethically
conducted research, which increases our knowledge of ourselves and the
workings of the mind.[199] Nor, for that matter, am I opposed to the
classification of some information in the interest of maintaining
national security. But if the government has indeed been conducting
research into mind control, then it has a responsibility to inform the
American public that mind control exists.

				In the absence of recognition by the government that mind control
exists and that unethical mind control is wrong, _the government’s
silence indirectly condones the practice of undue influence by
unethical people and organizations on the rest of society_. One only
need look around to see the effects of that silence: mind control
groups are proliferating at an unprecedented pace. The principles of
freedom and democracy demand that the reality of mind control be
exposed to full public scrutiny.


				Cults, Mind Control And The Mental Health Profession

				The U.S. government issues licenses to professionals who are
responsible for restoring ailing people’s mental well-being. Mental
health professionals do this by developing specific techniques and
therapies to address the problem that a patient or client may have.

				One population that cannot count on having its mental health needs
met is that of cult victims and other victims of undue influence. This
is particularly strange because for years, the _Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)_—which is published by
the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is relied upon by
clinicians, researchers, drug companies, health insurance companies,
the courts and policy makers—has contained a designation for victims
of cult brainwashing and thought reform.

				The most recent version, the _DSM—5_,[200] identifies this group
of patients under a special category: Other Specified Dissociative
Disorder 300.15 (F44.9). If you go to page 305, number 2, you will
read: “*Identity disturbance due to prolonged and intense coercive
persuasion*: Individuals who have been subjected to intense coercive
persuasion (e.g., brainwashing, thought reform, indoctrination while
captive, torture, long-term political imprisonment, recruitment by
sects/cults or by terror organizations) may present with prolonged
changes in, or conscious questioning of, their identity.”

				I wish I could say that most mental health professionals _have_
read it. To the contrary, it must be one of the DSM-5’s least known
categories. Therapists and other practitioners are largely unaware
that a diagnosis of mind control can even be made and are certainly
unfamiliar with the specialized approaches that have been developed to
address it. Meanwhile, a subset of their patients continue to suffer
as a result of their cult involvement—that is, unless they turn to a
relatively small handful of people who have recognized their needs and
are willing to treat them.

				There was a moment in time when this could have changed. In 2002,
Professor Philip Zimbardo, who conducted the now-famous Stanford
prison study, was President of the American Psychological Association
(APA). He saw quite clearly that the APA had not served the interests
of this suffering population. He asked Alan W. Scheflin, then a
professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, to chair a panel,
_Cults of Hatred_, at the APA’s annual convention.

				In his opening remarks, Scheflin said that the mental health
community has not addressed the needs of two different populations:
those who accurately believe that their minds have been controlled in
cultic and other situations; and those who mistakenly believe they are
the victims of mind control and may be suffering from delusions or
paranoia. The event brought together academicians like Scheflin and
Zimbardo; therapists, like myself, who work in the area of mind
control; and former members of groups such as the Peoples Temple. It
was, for me and many others, a momentous occasion.

				Zimbardo tried to seize that moment by writing about it in the
President’s column of the APA Monitor.[201] His words were so eloquent
that I have decided to reproduce them:

				“A basic value of the profession of psychology is promoting human
freedom of responsible action, based on awareness of available
behavioral options, and supporting an individual’s rights to exercise
them. Whatever we mean by “mind control” stands in opposition to this
positive value orientation.

				Mind control is the process by which individual or collective
freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that
modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or
behavioral outcomes. It is neither magical nor mystical, but a process
that involves a set of basic social psychological principles.

				Conformity, compliance, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, guilt
and fear arousal, modeling and identification are some of the staple
social influence ingredients well studied in psychological experiments
and field studies. In some combinations, they create a powerful
crucible of extreme mental and behavioral manipulation when
synthesized with several other real-world factors, such as
charismatic, authoritarian leaders, dominant ideologies, social
isolation, physical debilitation, induced phobias, and extreme threats
or promised rewards that are typically deceptively orchestrated, over
an extended time period in settings where they are applied
intensively.

				A body of social science evidence shows that when systematically
practiced by state-sanctioned police, military or destructive cults,
mind control can induce false confessions, create converts who
willingly torture or kill “invented enemies,” engage indoctrinated
members to work tirelessly, give up their money—and even their
lives—for “the cause.”

				Zimbardo hoped that APA board members would wake up to the reality
of mind control. That did not happen. Previous efforts by others had
fared no better. In 1983, Dr. Margaret Singer headed a task force on
Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control at the
request of the APA.[202] Despite her efforts, the problem was not
deemed serious enough to be taken up by the APA. Internal politics
appeared to be at work to keep this body of knowledge from public
attention.

				The promise contained in previous editions of the _DSM_ and in the
current section of the _DSM-5_ goes unfilled and, indeed,
unrecognized. The fact that neither the government nor organized
psychotherapy has stepped up to help those adversely affected by mind
control is dreadful. But I am hopeful that this will soon change,
through the efforts of enlightened mental health professionals and,
importantly, the growing number of former members who are taking
action and telling their stories to therapists and anyone else who
will listen.


				Mind Control Research And Its Application

				Despite the lack of attention by the government and mental health
profession, many people have been hard at work studying mind control
and how it affects people. They have written numerous books and
hundreds of papers.

				After publishing his 1961 classic, _Thought Reform and the
Psychology of Totalism_, former Air Force Intelligence psychiatrist
Robert Jay Lifton went on to write two more books on the theme of mind
control. In 1986 he published _The Nazi Doctors_, in which he
describes the psychological process of “doubling” that German doctors
underwent to enable them to obediently perform acts of unimaginable
cruelty in service to Hitler. Lifton then wrote a book in 1999 about
the Japanese terrorist Aum Shinrikyo cult entitled, _Destroying the
World to Save It_, in which he applied his model of mind control to
explain how cult members were manipulated into killing innocent people
in order to bring about an “apocalypse” that would supposedly erase
all of the bad _karma_ of the Japanese population.

				Margaret Singer wrote two books with Janja Lakich[203]—_Cults in
Our Midst_ and _Crazy Therapies_. In _The Lucifer Effect_, Philip
Zimbardo detailed his famous Stanford prison study and applied its
lessons to understand the horrible acts committed by American soldiers
at the Abu Ghraib prison. Louis Jolyon West and Paul Martin wrote a
paper on pseudo-identity disorder that is now considered a classic.
Social psychologist Robert Cialdini’s best-selling book, _Influence_,
details six laws by which people can be made to alter their behavior
and beliefs. Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson’s _Age of
Propaganda_ shows how PR and advertising manipulate the public.

				Former cult members have written their stories—such as Deborah
Layton (Peoples Temple), Nori Muster (Hare Krishnas), Alexandra Stein
(The O), and Richard E. Kelly (Jehovah’s Witnesses)—using their
firsthand experiences to shed light on the process of mind control.
Some, like me, have become mental health professionals, in an effort
to apply our life experience to help others overcome the predatory
behavior of cult leaders and other victimizers.

				Research now strongly suggests that cult leaders, dictators, pimps
and human traffickers have one or both of two serious personality
disorders: narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or antisocial
personality disorder (more commonly known as psychopathic/sociopathic
disorder). Canadian sociologist Stephen Kent presented a wonderful
paper at a recent meeting of the International Cultic Studies
Association (ICSA), titled “Narcissistic Grandiosity and the Life of
Sun Myung Moon,” in which he took extensive quotes from Moon and fit
them into the nine criteria of NPD as set out in the American
Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic manual, the DSM—5.[204] Former
cult member and respected therapist, Daniel Shaw, wrote an important
book, _Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation_, which
is really worth reading.[205] Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. has written a book
called _Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited_, and he has posted
several informative videos on his youtube channel, samvaknin.
Psychologist Anna Salter wrote what I think is the best book on sex
abusers (and not surprisingly most cult leaders), _Predators:
Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders_.[206] On the other side
of the cult equation, Dr. Flavil Yeakley, a respected psychologist
from Abilene Christian University, has undertaken considerable
research into the psychological profiles of cult members.[207] Dr.
Yeakley administered the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a
personality profile research device, to over a thousand members of
different religious groups, both mainline and cultic. He asked members
to fill out the questionnaire three times. The first time, they were
asked to answer the questions in their present frame of mind. The
second time, they were asked to answer the questions from the state of
mind prior to joining the group. Finally, Dr Yeakley asked his test
subjects to respond to the questions as they thought they would answer
in five years’ time.

				He administered this test to members of the Boston Church of
Christ, the Church of Scientology, the Hare Krishnas, Maranatha, the
Children of God, the Moonies and The Way International. The results
showed a high level of movement toward certain standard personality
types as defined by the test. In other words, people in certain cults
appeared to be all moving toward having the same kinds of
personalities, distinct to their particular group, regardless of the
original personalities they brought with them into the group.

				In comparison, when this test was given to members of the Baptist,
Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches, there were
no significant changes in psychological profiles over time. In short,
there was no indication of any pressure to conform to a certain type
of personality. People’s fundamental personalities—their authentic
selves—remained intact.

				I wrote to Yeakley that I thought these findings offered support
for my idea that cults actually give new personalities to their
members—Yeakley refers to it as “cloning”—as they suppress the
members’ original identities. As Dr. Yeakley explained in a letter to
me:

				“In the Boston Church of Christ and in three of the cults, the
shifting was toward the ESFJ (extrovert, sensing, feeling, judging)
personality type. Two of the cults were shifting toward ESTJ
(extrovert, sensing, thinking, judging) and one toward ENTJ
(extrovert, intuitive, thinking, judging). There is nothing wrong with
any of these three types. The problem is with the pressure to conform
to any type. It is the shifting which is negative, not the type toward
which the shifting takes place.”[208] Much more research needs to be
done. Well-respected mental health professionals who are experts on
mind control—Lifton, Singer, West, and Zimbardo, along with John
Clark, Edgar Schein, Michael Langone, Carmen Almendros, Rod
Dubrow-Marshall, Bill and Lorna Goldberg, Steve Eichel and others
associated with the International Cultic Studies Association
(ICSA)—have researched, written on, and advocated for more awareness
about mind control.

				There is an especially profound need for epidemiological studies
to investigate the public-health effects of undue influence. Psychotic
breakdowns, violent acts by former cult members, suicides, drug and
alcohol abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders are public health
issues that can all be caused by mind control, either deliberately or
as side effects.

				There are exciting possibilities in the developing technology of
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which might help us
understand whether brain function changes as a result of undue
influence. I suspect it does. Functional MRI’s have already shown a
distinct signature when someone is in a hypnotic state—the anterior
cingulate cortex (ACC) lights up distinctively. They have also shown
that dissociative identity disorder (DID) produces a distinctive brain
signature when a person switches identities.209 Every day, in
real-life contexts, cults are essentially performing unethical social
psychology experiments. One way to stop them is to expose the
biological effects of their manipulations. I believe that incredible
good can come from this kind of research.

				More research also needs to be done on the potentially
_beneficial_ use of ethical mind control techniques (for instance, for
weight loss, motivation, smoking cessation, and so on). The use of
mind control technology is not inherently evil. Like any technology,
it can be used to serve or to harm, to empower people or to enslave
them.

				Severe depression affects millions of Americans and robs them of
their ability to enjoy life. It may be possible to teach these people
some helpful mind control techniques (like psychiatrist David Burns
teaches essential cognitive-behavioral strategies in his seminal book
_Feeling Good_) to support or hasten their recovery.[210] One such
simple technique involves repeatedly imagining a better future. Such a
technique is effective and ethical, but only when someone freely makes
the choice to use it and the _locus of control_ is within oneself.

				Mind control techniques can also be used to help people currently
stuck in the criminal justice system. There is a great need for
massive reform of our prison system. Inmates can be taught more
effective ways to break their cycle of low self-esteem and
law-breaking behavior. Their voluntary use of mind control techniques
may help them change their thinking, behavior, and relationship to
society.

				It is my belief that _people who know how mind control operates
have a distinct advantage_, providing they use their knowledge for
ethical purposes—to bring about positive change in themselves and
others; and to protect themselves and others from the unethical use of
mind control by less ethical people.

				A measured approach, one that is guided by morality and wisdom,
must be taken when using any powerful tool for altering the human
mind. I hope that these issues will be thoroughly debated and
protections built in to prevent any abuses of this technology.

				These considerations represent just the beginning of societal
understanding of mind control. Much more must be done to educate
mental health professionals and empower them to help people who are
still suffering.


				Protecting Children From Cult Abuse

				Children occupy a unique and challenging place on the spectrum of
issues involving undue influence. There is so much research showing
the damaging effects of abuse—be it physical, sexual, emotional or
verbal—on the developing brain. (The good news is that there is also
research showing that the brain is remarkably resilient: it retains
its plasticity well into and possibly throughout adulthood.)

				Children who are raised in isolated, totalistic cults may be
indoctrinated to hate those outside the group or to believe that
Armageddon is just about to happen. They are told that if they stray
from the group, terrible things will happen: their families will
suffer, they will lose their connection to God and spend all eternity
in Hell. Extremist groups train even child members how to kill. These
are forms of mental and emotional abuse. Any country that allows such
activities to take place should be held accountable. The International
War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg went so far as to suggest that this
kind of abuse of children constitutes a crime against humanity.

				David Cooperson, a veteran child protection social worker, has
written a vitally important book, _The Holocaust Lessons on
Compassionate Parenting and Child Corporal Punishment_, which
convincingly shows how hitting, spanking or paddling children has
detrimental effects on a child’s development. He has a website,
stoplegalchildabuse.com, and is on a quest to make it illegal to
physically harm children in the U.S.. Forty countries have brought
such legislation, including the Scandinavian countries and the UK.

				Any country that grants tax-exempt status to organizations that
abuse children, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally or
spiritually, should be held responsible for that abuse. Tax-exempt
organizations like Jehovah’s Witnesses, that have had policies in
place for decades that systematically protect pedophiles from criminal
prosecution, and which disfellowships victims and their families for
speaking out, should lose their exemption. The leadership should be
prosecuted for conspiracy to cover up illegal activities. The tragedy
is that many children or young adults who run away from totalistic
groups, like the Watchtower, end up homeless and in the control of
pimps who exploit and control them for money and sex. They move from
one mind control situation into another.

				Child pornographers are being identified and prosecuted, but not
enough is being done to protect children from being kidnapped or sold
to human traffickers. As a start, men have an absolute obligation to
find out the actual age of anyone they have sex with. If they look
underage, they probably are underage. Call the police and rescue this
minor. There could be laws requiring people to report suspected child
trafficking.

				Some states still have laws that allow people to apply for a
religious exemption when it comes to medical treatment. Christian
Science continues to lobby State governments to allow parents to keep
their children from medical treatment. Jehovah’s Witnesses prohibit
members from having blood transfusions and expect members to refuse
transfusions and other medical treatment for their sick or
hospitalized children. They routinely apply for religious exemption on
the basis of belief. These laws can and must be amended to protect the
health and lives of children. Gretchen Callahan’s failed faith-healing
story in chapter 6 is heartbreaking, but there are countless children
similarly and needlessly suffering. Not all of these children die or
lose a limb or an organ due to medical neglect. But they are often in
physical pain and may also suffer emotionally, especially if they are
made to feel that their illness is their fault or are told that their
disease is spiritual and that all they, or their parents, need to do
is pray for God to intervene.

				Perhaps most concerning of all is the situation with those groups,
like the Twelve Tribes and Followers of Christ, which do not register
their children at birth. Sick children, who are often denied medical
treatment, may die and be buried on the cult property without the
outside world even knowing they ever existed. Linda Martin, a former
member of Followers of Christ, is trying to bring attention to the
large number of children who have died, due to the group’s faith
healing practices. Janet Heimlich’s Child Friendly Faith Project is an
outgrowth of her important book, _Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light
on Religious Child Maltreatment_. I gladly joined its board of
advisors and the organization has held two very important conferences
in Austin, Texas.[211] Another aspect of cult life—and even of noncult
life—that is devastating to see occurs during and after separation or
divorce, when children are indoctrinated against one parent by the
other parent. Parental alienation is a very real phenomenon. It goes
on all the time when a parent leaves a cult. The cult parent may truly
believe that their former spouse is evil for “leaving God” (and for
leaving the family.) Some of these groups actually instruct cult
parents to make up lies to get the child to believe that the ex-member
parent molested them, in an effort to influence a judge to stop
contact. Developmental psychologist Amy Baker has written, along with
Paul Fine, a number of excellent books addressing this huge problem,
including _Surviving Parental Alienation_ and _Co-Parenting with a
Toxic Ex_. Baker has developed a curriculum for middle school guidance
counselors to use with children whose parents are undergoing a
divorce, to protect them from abuse. Understanding the BITE model has
proven to be vital for children who have been programmed to hate their
parent. It helps them understand what happened to them, so that they
can take the first steps towards reconciling with that parent.

				I would be remiss if I did not mention homeschooling. While it may
work beautifully in the outside world, the fact is, many destructive
cults insist on schooling their children in order to keep them from
that world, which they often consider to be “Satan’s world.” While
there are legitimate homeschooling curricula, it is imperative that
there be checks and balances to protect children.

				On the other hand, if a child comes to public school with black
and blue marks, or displays a severe trauma reaction, teachers and
counselors must investigate and do what they can to protect the child
from abuse. Similarly, if a child appears isolated and wary or avoids
interacting with children and adults outside their insular community,
this can be very detrimental to their development. The onus is on the
school to investigate.


				Cults And The Law

				Current laws do not even recognize that mind control exists,
except when there is the use of physical force or the threat of such
force.

				There _are_ laws concerning undue influence that protect children
and vulnerable adults—the elderly, the dying, people with certain
mental illnesses, people with disabilities—from being taken advantage
of by what California law used to call “artful and designing persons.”
Aside from the elderly, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for
courts to agree that a healthy, functional individual can be subjected
to undue influence and undergo a radical personality change.

				This is not a new phenomenon. Years ago, judges had a somewhat
similar attitude towards women who were physically abused by domestic
partners. Those judges said, “Just leave.” It took many years and many
experts to persuade them that the psychological dynamics were nowhere
near that simple.

				When victims of cult abuse appear in court seeking a remedy for
the harms that have been done to them, the odds are usually against
them.[212] Part of the problem is that courts generally prefer not to
be involved with what they view to be interpersonal “squabbles,”
especially in the absence of some kind of physical abuse or coercion.
Legal theories that might protect cult victims either do not exist or
have not been applied to this kind of situation. When experts testify
in court, the literature they draw upon concerns brainwashing and mind
control. These terms are seen by some judges as fanciful or
outlandish—something out of Hollywood—and certainly devoid of
scientific grounding. The law requires that, for an expert to testify,
it must first be demonstrated that he or she will be testifying about
matters of science. Judges do not think about mind control or
brainwashing as matters of science.

				There are legal causes of action that could be utilized by cult
victims, such as fraud or “intentional infliction of emotional
distress.” But the law on these two subjects has not been applied or
developed in relation to cult situations. Courts and judges might be
disinclined to extend these time-honored legal doctrines to this more
controversial arena.

				Meanwhile, the same principles of influence that are used to
recruit people into cults are being used by pedophiles to groom
children and to turn people into human trafficking victims. The
definition used by the U.N. for labor and sex trafficking is use of
fraud, force, and coercion. Law enforcement and other professionals
who routinely deal with these victims are beginning to finally
understand that this adds up to mind control.

				Laws to protect victims of sex trafficking are beginning to change
as well. Several states now have what are called Safe Harbor laws,
which protect minors who are arrested for prostitution (it should be
called “trafficking” but isn’t, yet). Instead of being put into jail,
these young people are protected by social workers who advocate for
their safety, health and well-being. There is a growing understanding
that young sex workers are not exercising their free will; they are
under the mind control of pimps or sex traffickers (this is also true
of many adult trafficking victims). Loyola law professor Kathleen Kim
has written numerous articles, including “The Coercion of Trafficked
Workers,” which argues the need for law to be applied fairly and in
support of victims’ rights.[213] The same is true for all victims of
mind control.

				Part of the problem facing lawmakers and the courts is that cults
have sought to hide behind the constitutional guarantee of religious
freedom. In this country, people’s right to believe whatever they want
is absolute, as it should be. What is _not_ absolute is a group’s
right to _act_ in any way that it likes. For example, a sect may
believe that it is a sacred act to handle poisonous snakes, but the
law prohibits snake-handling rituals because too many people have died
as a consequence. Lawyers for cults do their best to ignore this
difference, and try to turn mind control issues into issues of belief,
rather than issues of behavior. Attorney Marci Hamilton’s excellent
book, _God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty_
brings to light the way in which groups with influence over lawmakers
enjoy special treatment under the law.

				Another way to frame this issue involves freedom _of_ versus
freedom _from_. The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to
worship, think and speak as they please. But to what degree should we
be protected from other people’s attempts to make us worship, think
and speak as they want us to? Legislators and courts are still
struggling with this.

				Cult recruitment and conversion are particularly difficult to
analyze. Does a group really have the right to deceive potential
converts who would stay away if they knew the truth? Likewise, does a
group have the right to manipulate a person’s thoughts, feelings and
environment in order to create a conversion experience? If so, where
should the line be drawn between legal and illegal manipulation? I
will say more about this shortly.

				So far, it has been difficult to determine scientifically whether
a person is under mind control. Any evaluation has had to be
subjective. Mind control experts have been seeking a legal vehicle
that will allow them to satisfy the law’s requirement that they will
be testifying from scientific data.

				They now have one. Alan W. Scheflin, who is Professor Emeritus at
Santa Clara University School of Law, in an important paper, argues
that all human beings have the right to protection from undue
influence, a concept the law has recognized for at least five
centuries. With this legal precedent in place, the remaining issue is
qualifying experts to testify on the basis of science.

				In his paper, “Supporting Human Rights by Testifying Human
Wrongs,” which appeared in the _International Journal of Cultic
Studies_,[214] Scheflin describes what he calls the Social Influence
Model, or SIM, for determining whether undue influence has occurred.
This model provides a structure for the presentation of scientific
data. It involves an analysis of six elements: the influence itself;
the influencer’s motives; the influencer’s methods; the circumstances
under which the influence occurred; the influencee’s receptivity or
vulnerability (regardless of their designation as a minor, a
vulnerable adult, or a non-vulnerable adult); and the consequences for
both parties. For each of these elements, there is abundant social
science data that an expert may use to give the judge and jury a clear
picture of why the communications that occurred should be labeled
_undue_ influence.

				Currently, the law tends to protect cults more than it protects
their victims. In part, this is because of the enormous wealth of some
mind control groups, which allows them to hire the best attorneys and
to file harassment lawsuits (unwinnable, but very troublesome to the
person or organization being sued). In addition, there is the first
amendment issue. Sadly, some of the leaders of the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) have historically sided with cults, invoking
the First Amendment and ignoring mind control research.

				Still, brave former members of many different cults have initiated
civil lawsuits against their groups. The results have been mixed. But
when the Moonies sued the London _Daily Mail_ newspaper for libel over
two articles it published in 1978, they lost. In the longest libel
suit in the history of England, the court found that the Moonies did
“brainwash their members and did try to cut people off from their
families.” Because British law requires that whichever party loses the
suit is responsible for the expenses of both sides, the Moonies were
required to pay some $2 million in expenses.[215]

				There has been a trend of cases over the last few decades holding
that cult critics who describe a group as a “cult” and accuse it of
using “mind control” or “brainwashing” are protected under the First
Amendment from liability for defamation.[216] Therefore, former
members should feel encouraged to speak out about their experiences.
There are a small handful of lawyers in the United States that have
offered to assist cult victims in these types of suits at low rates or
pro bono. Attorney Paul Grosswald (who himself is an ex-Scientologist)
is such a pioneering individual. He has truly stepped up to the plate
regarding a recent libel suit brought by “God the Mother” of the World
Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) against former member Michele
Colon for writing on the examiningthewmscog.com website that the group
was a cult and broke up her marriage.

				There is little doubt, as well, that if the American economy gets
shaky, cult-owned businesses will flourish. Many cult-owned businesses
are able to undercut competition because they have free labor. They
can also avoid paying taxes because their bookkeeping systems show
payment of full salaries, yet those paychecks are in reality turned
over to the tax-exempt organization. It therefore appears the business
is making a marginal profit in comparison with the monies it is
actually taking in.

				In other cases, new employees will be expected to attend all
company—sponsored “workshops” and “seminars.” Even now, business
executives are flocking to programs that can teach them how to better
influence and control people. Cults have actually taken over the
running of some companies in this way.

				Despite the progress, there is still much more work that needs to
be done. The threat of lawsuits by cults chills many people and makes
them refrain from expressing themselves. It has also caused the
media—which is entrusted with reporting difficult truths—to hang back
or shy away altogether. Heather Kavan of Massey University in New
Zealand wrote an important paper, “Falun Gong in the Media: What Can
We Believe?” [217] I have personally seen how fear of cult lawsuits
can affect the media. In early 1988, the editor of a popular magazine
saw me on television and asked me to write a review of the then-new
book _L. Ron Hubbard—Messiah or Madman_ by Bent Corydon, a former
22-year Scientologist. As it happened, I had just finished the book
the week before, and happily agreed. However, the review was never
published. The publisher later told me she was afraid of being sued by
the Church of Scientology. She regretted not being able to print it,
but said that it just didn’t make good business sense for them to do
so. Prior to its publication, eleven publishers told Jon Atack that
they would like to publish his book, _A Piece of Blue Sky_, but that
they were afraid of litigation from the Scientology cult.

				With the creation of the Internet and the coming forward of many
top former leaders of cults, information is much more available than
ever before. There have been many books, websites, documentaries and
stories published. It is difficult for cults to do information control
when there is an open Internet.

				Destructive Cults And Business:

				The Case Of Multi-Level Marketing Groups


				On October 24, 2013, an _ad hoc_ committee of about forty consumer
advocates, bloggers, attorneys, economists, and others—including
Douglas Brooks, Robert L. Fitzpatrick, and Bruce Craig—filed a formal
petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting that it
investigate the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry, and that it
formulate regulations to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive
business opportunities. On March 12, 2014, the FTC announced that it
was investigating the supplement company Herbalife. Over the years,
other MLM companies, such as Amway, have been sued by the FTC, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, and state Attorneys General. Any
company that tells people that they can become millionaires by buying
and selling their products and by recruiting others to do the same may
be found to be a pyramid scheme by government regulators, and should
be viewed with suspicion by anyone who is being recruited by them.

				According to the consumer group Pyramid Scheme Alert
(pyramidschemealert.org), the MLM industry may now be facing its
greatest challenge. Fitzpatrick, Brooks and Craig have released a
white paper which dissects the entire MLM industry.[218] In the white
paper, Brooks and Craig—two of the foremost legal experts in the area
of pyramid schemes—carefully researched and evaluated the federal
court cases that define and outlaw pyramid selling schemes. (These are
found in Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.) They applied
these cases to the widespread practices of MLMs today to see if they
are legal. Their white paper is the most in-depth and current
evaluation of MLM legality ever produced. The analysis has become
especially important now that theFTC has launched an investigationinto
the legality of Herbalife.

				As a crucial part of the white paper, Fitzpatrick conducted a
statistical analysis of MLM economic performance and of the MLM
business model to determine its financial value to consumers and
society, which is included in the white paper. The white paper is a
must-read for attorneys, regulators, journalists, financial analysts
and any interested consumers who want to determine how the FTC
investigation could affect not just Herbalife but all MLMs, their
shareholders and their distributors.

				While they take an important first step, Brooks, Craig and
Fitzpatrick ignore a critical aspect of the MLM phenomenon. What they
don’t report is how some MLM recruiters deceptively recruit and keep
people dependent and obedient by following the BITE model. New
recruits are pressured to attend rallies and conferences where they
are influenced to buy materials, such as books and CDs; to keep a
positive, unquestioning mental attitude; and most importantly not to
give in to family and concerned friends who raise questions. They are
told to never talk negatively about the company and, if they have
questions, to ask only their recruiter, known as their “upline.”

				The cost of involvement, unless the person is in the top one
percent of earners, is very high, in part because their earnings are
so low. Bank accounts are drained, marriages are strained and broken.
Relationships with family and friends can end up in tatters. People
often wind up leaving the group, ashamed, embarrassed, depressed and
sometimes even suicidal.

				These groups should not be in business. It is up to our government
to make sure the public is protected.

				Until that time, _caveat emptor_: let the buyer beware.


				Cults And Religious Freedom

				The major defense that cults use whenever any criticism is
directed against them is that it is an attack on their right to
freedom of religious belief. This right is one of the most fundamental
principles recognized by law and it has been memorialized in every
major international covenant concerning human rights. When pilgrims
were fleeing persecution in Europe and elsewhere, they sought refuge
in the U.S. to practice their beliefs without government suppression.
The Founding Fathers were wise to put freedom of religious belief in
the very First Amendment of the Constitution. It is that important.

				The strong legal protection afforded to freedom of religion refers
to religious _beliefs_. It does not necessarily protect _behaviors_.
For example, human sacrifice to the gods may be part of a person’s
belief system, as it was in earlier times, but if carried out in
modern-day Boston or anywhere in the U.S., it is homicide. Courts have
routinely banned snake-handling rituals, because of the many deaths
that have resulted from that practice. It has famously been said, by
judges and others, “Your right to swing your arms ends just where the
other man’s nose begins.”[219] The U.S. Constitution emphasizes the
individual’s right to freedom of speech but it, too, has limits. The
law does not allow me to take a bullhorn at 3 o’clock in the morning
and wake my neighbors with religious or any other kind of speech. In
fact, the law may regulate the content of speech under what is called
the “clear and present danger” doctrine. Speech that is designed or
likely to cause a riot or serious harm to other people is not given
protection. Religion does not enjoy immunity from these legal
limitations.

				Frederick Clarkson, in his 1997 book, _Eternal Hostility: The
Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy_, showed how the men who
shaped our nation’s approach to religious freedom were well aware that
even religion’s rights had their limitations. As we hear cries of
religious persecution by groups that specialize in violating the
rights of others, it is worth considering how the framers of the
Constitution thought about these things.

				Clarkson notes that James Madison, writing about religious freedom
in one of the most influential essays of his time, denounced the
“invasion” of an individual’s “conscience” by other “Sects.” Madison’s
conclusion was simple. The role of government should be “protecting
every citizen in the enjoyment of his Religion with the same equal
hand which protects his person and his property; by neither invading
the equal rights of any Sect, nor suffering any Sect to invade those
of another.” Clarkson notes that Madison was not the only founding
father to hold such a view. He quotes Thomas Jefferson as writing that
a church is a “voluntary society” of which a person “should be as free
to go out as he was to come in.”

				In recent years, there has been an interesting twist in the
discussion about religious freedom. While there is general acceptance
of the concept of freedom of religion, there is mounting concern for
the adoption of freedom _from_ religion. In much the same way that my
freedom to move my fist stops at your nose, there is also a belief
that your freedom to worship stops at my head, or more specifically,
my mind. The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to worship,
think and speak as they please. But to what extent should we be
protected _from_ other people’s attempts to make us worship, think and
speak as they want us to?

				It seemed to Clarkson, as it seemed to Madison—and it seems to
me—that if there are laws that protect people from being conned out of
their property, there should be laws that protect people from being
conned out of their beliefs, thoughts and opinions. The point is not
to diminish or disparage a particular religion, but instead to show
equal respect for the rights of others to believe or not believe as
they choose. The protection of religion should not require the
sacrifice of individual liberties and social values.

				With regard to cults, the point may be more directly stated as
follows: it is not your beliefs that require regulation—it is your
practices. It is not what you bring people to believe. It is _how_ you
bring them to believe it.

				Clarkson declares that “inducing people to secluded locations and
willfully impairing critical faculties of recruits and members for
purposes of indoctrination and continuation of membership is a far cry
from Jeffersonian—or any other definition of voluntary association.”

				According to Clarkson, “Respect for religious freedom means
respect for the integrity of the conscience of the individual.” He
continues: “Groups that use deception and coercive forms of persuasion
to induce people to abandon their own conscience and adopt the beliefs
of another, certainly violate the religious freedom of individuals,
even if governments and cult apologists turn a blind eye to such
abuses and the slow corrosion of this area of constitutional rights.”

				It takes significant knowledge as well as maturity on all of our
parts to navigate our religiously plural society. The protections we
each enjoy under the Constitution are also enjoyed by people with whom
we disagree. Unless we are able to embrace this concept in ways that
inform our thinking on every aspect of counter-cult work, we risk
undermining our own cause.

				We can take a hint from none other than George Washington, who
famously wrote to the Touro synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island in 1790
about the meaning of religious freedom and citizenship. “For happily,”
he wrote, “the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no
sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who
live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens,
in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”[220] _To
bigotry no sanction and to persecution no assistance_. That is a good
principle to guide us in our work.

				Nothing would grieve me more than to learn that this book has
caused anyone to become religiously intolerant. I remember how I felt
being spat upon, kicked, punched and verbally abused because I was a
Moonie. Such treatment, always uncalled for, only served to reinforce
my feelings that I was being persecuted for my faith in God. And it
also had the opposite effect to what people desired. By reinforcing
cult leaders’ claims about persecution, it made me dig my heels in
deeper into my cult identity. It made me less willing to have dialogue
with people who wanted to insult me and consequently with those who
wanted to help.

				I was able to reconnect with my original faith after I left the
cult, but it was _my_ freedom of choice to do so. Not everyone makes
the same kind of decision. For some, the cult experience ruined their
ability to have faith in any kind of organized religion.

				My point is, discrimination toward anyone for their beliefs—or
their lack of belief—is illegal.

				In principle, I am against banning cults. That will only force
them underground.[221] Much as I abhor their practices, I also believe
they have the right to exist, so I would not support legislation
prohibiting them. On the other hand, I would love to see the
government supporting an inoculation program against destructive mind
control and cults in which citizens young and old were provided with
an understanding that kept them free from undue influence.


				The Future

				Much can be done to stop the spread of cults and undue influence.
Here is a brief checklist of practical steps that people can take:


				Everyone

				Learn more about cults, mind control and undue influence. Many
wonderful documentaries have just been done—including HBO’s _Going
Clear_ (on Scientology), _Truth Be Told_[222] (on Jehovah’s
Witnesses), and _Prophets Prey_ (on Warren Jeffs’ Fundamentalist
Latter Day Saints [FLDS] cult). Watch them! Visit websites such as
openmindsfoundation.org (Open Minds Foundation), icsahome.com
(International Cultic Studies Association) and Families Against Cult
Teachings (familiesagainstcultteachings.org). Please visit my website,
freedomofmind.com. Read widely. You may appreciate my other books
_Releasing the Bonds_ and especially the more recent_ Freedom of Mind:
Helping Loved Ones LeaveControlling People, Cults and Beliefs_.

				Stay up-to-date with our social media. Follow us on
Twitter(@CultExpert) and Facebook (facebook.com/FOMinc).

				Read the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
share it widely.[223] Share these resources with others. Discuss one
of them in your book or movie group. Tweet about them. Put up relevant
articles on your blog. Write reviews on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com

				Protect yourself—research any potential organization carefully
before agreeing to attend its events. When in doubt about an
organization, ask the questions provided in Chapter 7. Don’t give out
personal information of any kind to _anyone_ until they have
demonstrated that they are trustworthy. Do not put personal
information up on the Internet. If someone enters your life with
“psychic” powers, you should assume they found your personal
information online.

				Lobby your politicians—local, state and federal. Set up
appointments to tell them your concerns. Ask them to stand up for
human rights.

				If you suspect that someone you know is under the sway of a group
or individual and may be a victim of undue influence, don’t turn a
blind eye. Act quickly. Express your concerns to the person’s friends
and family.

				If you know a former cult member whose involvement kept them from
gaining a formal education or employment, please go out of your way to
help find them a job or re-enter the educational system. Do whatever
you can to help them integrate into society.

				If you are a former member, help de-stigmatize the whole area of
cult involvement. Tell people your story. Help them understand that
those of us who were in a cult do not have something “wrong” with us.
Help the public see that we were unduly influenced.

				If you are in a position to help the efforts to assist current
members to reevaluate their life and exit to freedom, please do! If it
is prudent not to do so publicly, there is much you can do behind the
scenes to help people who are actively setting up websites, social
media campaigns, contacting authorities, hiring attorneys and private
investigators to find out vital background information.


				Government: Federal and State

				Ask the Surgeon General—or some other high-ranking and credible
government official—to state definitively that undue influence exists
and that destructive cult mind control is bad for public health.

				Educate law enforcement and intelligence agencies, so that they
can more effectively combat human trafficking and terrorism.[224]

				Pass lobbying laws and impose stiff penalties for those who
subvert the Constitution and abrogate human rights.

				Consider carefully any “religious” organization that applies for
tax-exempt status. Take action against those who currently have such
status, such as Scientology.[225] Tax-abiding citizens should not be
forced to subsidize such organizations!

				Set up a special agency where people can report infractions and/or
blow the whistle on questionable groups. Hire experienced
investigators to investigate and collect evidence. Questionable groups
should be asked to reform their policies and pay damages, or they will
lose their IRS exemption. Groups that are found guilty should be
stripped of their tax-exempt status and made to sell property and
other assets to compensate victims.


				Media

				Please accept the responsibility to support investigative
journalism aimed at protecting the public good!

				Do not hide the truth from the public because of the threat of
lawsuits that might hurt the “bottom line.” Perhaps there should be
some federal agency set up to fund attorneys who defend investigative
journalists who have been sued or threatened. The government might
consider funding an independent media resource designed for the public
good.

				Fire reporters and editors who are on the payroll—or the
ideological hook—of known totalistic cults, especially those which
systematically engage in criminal behavior or have stated agendas of
taking over the world and violating non-members’ civil and human
rights.

				Your archives are filled with documentaries and shows that have
exposed destructive cult groups. Open them to the public! Many of
these shows—like 60 Minutes, Dateline, Nightline, 20/20 and shows like
Donahue and others—should be online for the public good, either free
or at a reasonable fee.

				Words matter and so do names. Using the term “ISIS” is not just
misleading—it is an affront to Muslims. The destructive group is not a
“State” nor does it represent the overwhelming majority of Muslims,
most of whom do not wish to revert to 7th century shariah law. Switch
to the term that many Muslims use: Daesh. As a start, use _ISIS/Daesh_
or _Daesh/ISIS_. As people become familiar with Daesh, drop ISIS
altogether. Be precise when labeling an Islamist group. Do not call
the tiny Wahhabi sect, to which Al Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS members
belong, “Sunnis.” This is like calling the Branch Davidians at Waco
“Christians.” Most Muslims want nothing to do with terrorism. It is no
part of their faith.

				Write more stories about undue influence, mind control, former
members, whistleblowers, and anybody else who stands up to injustice.
Hold them up as courageous heroes.

				There is an idea afloat to collect one dollar from every citizen
of the United States to fund a truly independent investigative
journalism entity whose job will be to truly look out for the public
good and who is not beholden to politicians or advertisers or special
interest groups. Where facts that are indisputable could be published
online for all to see. Such an institution is vital to keep our
democracy functioning, as the existing system is declining rapidly.
There is a recent report that advertisers are now influencing some
editorial boards to do stories that will include “product placement”
within their report. Very upsetting and confusing.


				Educators

				If you’re sufficiently knowledgeable about mind control and undue
influence, offer a program, unit, class or curriculum. If not, bring
in a qualified speaker.

				Create an atmosphere in your classroom that encourages
questioning, open discussion and respect for a wide range of beliefs
and opinions.

				Teach students how to think critically and analytically. Rather
than teaching to the test, teach young people how to think for
themselves. Teach them to look out for others—to be responsible
citizens.


				Attorneys

				Study and use Alan W. Scheflin’s SIM model of Undue Influence.

				Please consider representing former members without fee or on a no
win/no fee contingency basis.


				Educate judges.

				Make presentations at American Bar Association meetings.

				Contact Freedom of Mind for legal strategy, research, and expert
witness work.


				Mental Health Professionals

				Attend a class or workshop in the basics of mind control and cult
dynamics. Find training or supervision from a qualified expert.

				When beginning to work with new clients, ask questions to help
determine if they have been victims of undue influence. If you do not
have the appropriate training, refer them to professionals who do or
get trained yourself.


				Spiritual Leaders

				Talk about undue influence and cults with your congregants and
your networks.

				Bring in speakers on the subject of cults, mind control and undue influence.

				Practice, encourage, demonstrate and speak about spiritual discernment.

				If you suspect a congregant is a victim of mind control, act
quickly. Speak with their family members and friends. Speak with a
cult expert.

				Insist that schools and seminaries offer courses on how to counsel
victims of undue influence. Clergy are often first responders in
crisis situations, and many are not well prepared to respond
effectively.

				Practice tolerance and organize programs that bring together
people of different faiths as well as humanists. Less isolation and
more ecumenism.

				Sign and participate in Karen Armstrong’s CharterforCompassion.org


				Philanthropists

				Cults have the money. We don’t! If people made contributions of
money, it could be used to:

				Fund those established scholars and practitioners who do not have
the resources to research and write about cults, mind control and
undue influence.

				Establish a major think tank where this research can be gathered
and analyzed and where resources to help victims and their families
can be centralized.

				Develop educational programs exploring the vulnerability and
strength of the human mind.

				Support Philip Zimbardo’s Heroic Imagination Project
(heroicimagination.org)! It is one of the most inspiring teaching
tools I know. With new modules on cults, trafficking and terrorism
that I hope to help create, it will be one of the best methods for
inoculating people against mind control and undue influence all around
the world.

				Develop facilities that help victims of human trafficking and
other cult mind control situations to understand and recover from
undue influence.

				Support the Child Friendly Faith Project (CFFP)
(childfriendlyfaith.org) and Against Violent “Violent Extremism (AVE)
(againstviolentextremism.org)—two non-profits I am involved with.
				I hope to find some angel (or some foundation) who will help me
with the resources needed to train, along with others I respect in the
field, like Jon Atack and Joe Szimhart, the next generation of people
who can help people to understand how to step out of “self-sealing
systems” to freedom of mind.
				Tell other philanthropists about this cause. The need is huge but
so is the reward.
				Crowdsource! Choose projects that interest you and get others to
help you support them.
				
				
				Final Thoughts

				Writing this book is the fulfillment of my long-standing desire to
contribute a practical, informative guide to the problems of mind
control, undue influence and destructive cults.

				It has been a long, often difficult, road but also an incredibly
rich and rewarding one. I can’t imagine having followed any other
path. Despite the many difficulties, I am grateful to have been
allowed to do this work, and, given the choice, I would not follow any
other career path. I have had a very rewarding life.

				Through my writing and my counseling work, I have had the
privilege of helping people to free themselves from mind control
situations of every kind imaginable, as well as some that are
unimaginable. My hope is that this book enables many, many others to
understand more clearly how undue influence operates within
destructive cult groups and other situations that may be occurring in
their own or their loved ones’ lives.

				It was important, I think, to tell the whole story, and to include
my methods for helping people leave cults and other mind control
situations, even though I have worried that it might make these
destructive groups more sophisticated in their programming. By
demystifying my work—and theirs—I hope that countless numbers of
people will be motivated and able to start working to help themselves
and those they love.

				I also hope that this book will help to create a powerful public
consumer awareness movement about mind control and destructive cults.
I hope that the government will finally acknowledge the problem and
take steps to protect the public. In the meantime, I hope readers of
this book will join OMF, ICSA and other counter-cult groups and
subscribe to their news-letters and journals. Furthermore, I encourage
those people who have been through a cult mind control experience to
get involved and make a stand. We need your help! Sharing your
knowledge and experience—telling your story—can be incredibly
powerful. It is freeing and empowering to tell it. And it can be
freeing and empowering to hear it. You can save lives.

				As destructive cults and mind control come to be better
understood, the social stigma attached to former cult membership will
begin to dissolve. Former members will come to realize that we were
not to blame for our involvement. People will see that we have a lot
to give back to society given the chance. Many of my former clients
and friends have gone on with their lives and become happy, productive
citizens. They are doctors, lawyers, dentists, chiropractors,
psychologists, architects, artists, teachers, parents and social
activists. Support groups can help a lot, but it takes active
participation. Whether you are in need, or have something to give, or
both, I urge you to take a positive step. You can make an enormous
difference.

				In the words of Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

				Or as Margaret Mead put it: “Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the
only thing that ever has.”

Acknowledgments

				To Misia Landau—anthropologist, science writer, artist,
photographer, and my loving wife, who is strong enough to deal with
all the stresses of life with an activist—thank you for all your
incredible support on many levels. You have helped me write,
strategize, and cope. You have been my number one. Special thanks for
putting your own writing projects and art classes aside to help me
ready this book for publication by editing and advising every step of
the way. Thank you in ways far more than words could ever communicate.

				To our son Matthew, who is the joy of our lives: what a gift you
have been. Thank you for being you.
				With heartfelt gratitude, I thank my parents, Milton and Estelle
Hassan, for all their love and support. Whenever I needed them, they
were there for me. They risked everything to rescue me from the
Moonies, and I will be forever grateful that they did.

				I wish to thank my sisters, Thea and Stephanie, as well as my
brothers-inlaw, Doug and Ken, for all they have done throughout the
years. Thea and Doug helped save me more than once. They also did much
to take care of my folks in their waning years.

				To their sons, Michael and Scott, and their families: thank you.

				My aunt and uncle, Phyllis and Mort Slotnick, and their children
Debbie and Mark, whom I grew up with, have always provided strong
support.

				To Misia’s sisters, Lauren Broch and Ricki Grossman; their
husbands, Danny and Dennis; and my niece Sarah and my nephews Ben,
Noah, and David: thanks for being my extended family.

				I wish to thank Gary Rosenberg, Michael Strom, Nestor Garcia, and
Gladys Gonzalez for their willingness to spend five very difficult
days in 1976 counseling me back to reality. Without their help, I
might have spent many more years in the Moonies. I have recently
rediscovered Nestor on LinkedIn; he is now a psychiatrist in Florida.
Gladys also lives in Florida and is a social worker. Gary,
unfortunately, passed away. Mike, where are you?

				Special acknowledgments go to my first wife of seven years, Aureet
Bar-Yam, who lived through the creation and the original publication
of this book. She died in a tragic accident, trying to rescue our
Golden Retriever from an icy pond in 1991. I will always remember her
for her love, talent, intelligence, and willingness to help others.
Her parents, Drs. Zvi and Miriam Bar-Yam, and their children Sageet
and Yaneer and their families, have continued to be sources of much
love, inspiration, and help, in ways too numerous to recount.

				A special thanks to Eric Rayman and his wife, Sue Horton. As an
attorney, Eric gets all the credit for helping me reacquire the rights
to this book so it could have a second life. He has also helped over
many years with legal support and advice in getting my work to the
broader public. Susan, thanks for being a friend.

				I would also like to thank a few other friends: Marc and Elyse
Hirschorn, Monica Weiss and Dan Hanson, Elissa Weitzman, Shepherd
Doeleman, Karen Magarian, Gary Birns, Russell Backer and Susan Mayer,
Michael Stone, Ron Cooper, Steve Morse, Chris Kilham, Hoyt Richards,
Taryn Southern, Josh Baran, Masoud Banisadr, and others too numerous
to mention here. They know who they are.

				Some individuals have been my teachers and, at times, my
inspiration. I would like to thank Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., Alan W.
Scheflin, Daniel Brown, Ph.D., Bill and Lorna Goldberg and Stephen
Lankton.

				Thank you, Christopher Sonn, for your teaching, healing, and
guidance on web issues—and for your friendship.

				I wish to also thank Jorge Carballo, Cathy Colman, Karen Kaplan,
and Rebecca Johnston for all of their support. You helped me transform
my pain into creativity, flexibility, and creative energy.

				Special thanks to Dr. Philip Zimbardo, my hero, who taught a
course at Stanford University called The Psychology of Mind Control
for 15 years. The class uses two chapters of the original _CCMC_ as
part of its required reading. Zimbardo has been my mentor and one of
my biggest supporters. His Heroic Imagination Project deserves to
become a standard curriculum used around the world.

				Thanks so much to my personal board of advisors: Hank Greenberg,
Richard E. Kelly, who put in many hours helping me with this book, Jay
Livingston, Ellen Krause Grossman who have helped be my business
coach.

				Jon Atack has been a friend and a source of enormous assistance.
He helped me a great deal with this book. Thank you forensic
psychologist teacher of mine for decades, Daniel Brown. Thank you Alan
Scheflin for your friendship and advice over the years and for ideas
to make the final chapter stronger. Thank you Fred Clarkson for all
your assistance and clarity with the religious freedom issue and the
Moonies. Cell Whitman gets über kudos for sending me Moonie material.

				My work at Freedom of Mind Resource Center has led me to many
sources of help over the years. My private investigator, Larry
Zilliox, has helped me with many cases and maintains the Moon
front-group list. My friend and associate in Los Angeles, Rachel
Bernstein. I also wish to thank Greta Ioug, my assistant who worked
tirelessly to help me bring the 2015 book project to fruition. Thanks
to Jane and Kimmy for helping me so much with FOM. Thanks to the folks
at Artists for Humanity for helping me design my logo and book cover.
Further thanks to my wife Misia, who oversaw the design development.
Thank you Artists for Humanity for helping make the book trailer.

				Thanks to Mike White and Ghost River Images for helping to put the
book together and publishing help.

				Special thanks to Sue Hall for PR assistance, and to Terri
VandeVegte, Elise Hirschorn and Jefferson Hawkins who helped me
proofread the galleys of this book.

				Thanks to James Elliott, P.I., who read the original Combatting
Cult Mind Control book years ago and asked me to fly to California to
help with the issue of human trafficking. He also introduced me to
Carissa Phelps, who brought me out to assist with two trainings done
by Runaway Girl for over 600 law enforcement personnel. At those
trainings in the summer of 2013, I became acquainted with Rachel
Thomas, D’lita Miller, and many other wonderful sex trafficking
survivor/mentors. That meeting evolved into my first workshop for Lisa
GoldblattGrace and the wonderful people at My Life, My Choice, which
now uses my work to help human trafficking survivors. Thanks, too, to
ICSA, the International Cultic Studies Association, for which I put
together a panel on the theme of trafficking as a commercial cult
phenomenon. At the ICSA meeting in Washington, D.C., Christina Meyer,
Rachel Thomas, Christine Marie Katas, and I met Christina Arnold, a
Children of God survivor and the founder of Prevent Human Trafficking.
Rachel Thomas, Carissa Phelps, D’lita Miller and I created Ending the
Game, a state of the art curriculum for helping trafficking survivors
understand mind control and strategies for reclaiming their power.

				Thanks to Janet Heimlich and the Child Friendly Faith Project. I
am proud to be on CFFP’s board of advisors. The organization works to
ensure that children have medical treatment, are protected from
pedophiles, and are not corporally punished. This work is crucially
important. Deep thanks to all of CFFP’s wonderful board members.

				A special shout-out to Zainab AlSuwaij, president of the American
Islamic Congress, for her pioneering work in supporting women’s and
children’s rights, and in promoting peaceful, collaborative Islam.

				Masoud Banisadr gets special praise for his intelligence, humility
and courage to educate the world about terrorist groups as mind
control cults.

				Many other people have helped me substantially along the way,
providing me with information, insight, and editorial comments. So I
would also like to thank James and Marcia Rudin, Bob, Barbara and
their son Paul Grosswald, Dave Spector, Pascal Zivi, Arnold Markowitz,
Bernhard Trenkle, Michael Langone, Rod and Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Joe
Szimhart, Sue Hall, Marc and Cora Latham, Bo Juel Jensen, Lee Marsh,
Mickey Hudson, Lee Elder, Paul Grundy, and John Hoyle and all the
people at AAWA, Advocates for Awareness of Watchtower Abuse. Special
thanks to Randy Watters of Free Minds, who was the first former elder
of the Watchtower who contacted me, educated me, and supported me
through the decades.

				To friends, supporters, and heroes who are no longer alive—Herb
Rosedale, Bob Minton, Denise Brennan, Milton H. Erickson, M.D.,
Margaret Singer, Ph.D., Louis Jolyon West, M.D., Dr. John Clark, and
Carol Turnbull—thank you for all your support and contributions.

				Thank you Reb Moshe Waldoks and Rav Claudia Kreiman, and the
amazing spiritual community of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline,
Massachusetts. You have been my grounding for so many life events,
including my bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, and the illnesses
and passing of both Misia’s and my parents.

				Some people mentioned here—friends, colleagues, and former
clients—were willing to share their stories of cult involvement,
thereby enriching this book. I am most grateful for their assistance
and encouragement.

				In the many years I have been involved in the field of cult
awareness, I have met some of the best, most talented, and most caring
people in the world. Thank you all.


About the Author

				Steven A. Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC, NCC is one of the foremost
authorities on cults and mind control. He has been involved in
educating the public about mind control, controlling groups and
destructive cults since 1976. He holds a master’s degree in counseling
psychology from Cambridge College, is a Licensed Mental Health
Counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a
Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). Steve has written three books
that have received extensive praise from former cult members, families
of former members, clergy, cult experts, and psychologists. _Combating
Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue,
and Recovery from Destructive Cults_ (1988, 1990, 2015), _Releasing
the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves_ (2000), and in
July 2012, he published the paperback and ebook, _Freedom of Mind:
Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults & Beliefs_, (Second
Edition 2013).

				Hassan’s insightful perspective and expert commentary have made
him a definitive source for hundreds of national, international and
local media outlets including: USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, New
York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, People
Magazine, CNN, 60 Minutes, Dateline, NightLine, The Today Show, and
Good Morning America. He has also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show,
Dr. Phil, Larry King Live, Dr. Drew and countless others.

				Mr. Hassan pioneered a new approach to helping victims of mind
control called the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA). Unlike the
stressful and media-sensationalized approach known as deprogramming,
this non-coercive approach is an effective and legal alternative to
help cult members. It teaches family and friends how to strategically
influence the individual involved in the group.

				Since 1976, Mr. Hassan has helped thousands of people who were
victimized by cult-related mind control. He has led many workshops and
seminars for mental health professionals, educators, and law
enforcement officers, as well as for families of cult members.

				Mr. Hassan was deceptively recruited into Sun Myung Moon’s
Unification Church at the age of 19, while a student at Queens
College. He spent the next 27 months recruiting and indoctrinating new
members, fundraising, and doing political campaigning. He personally
met with Sun Myung Moon on many occasions in leadership sessions. Mr.
Hassan ultimately rose to the rank of Assistant Director of the
Unification Church at National Headquarters.

				Following a serious automobile accident, he was deprogrammed by
several former Moonies, at his parents’ request. Once he realized the
insidious nature of the organization, he authorized police officials
to take possession of his personal belongings, which included a
massive set of private speeches documenting Moon’s secret plan to take
over the world.

				During the 1977-78 Congressional Subcommittee Investigation into
South Korean CIA activities in the United States, he consulted as an
expert witness and turned over to the committee these private
speeches.

				In 1979, following the Jonestown tragedy, Mr. Hassan founded
ExMoon Inc., a non-profit educational organization composed of over
400 former members of the Moon group. Although now defunct, it was one
of the first and largest ex-member organizations in the world.

				In 1999, Mr. Hassan founded the Freedom of Mind Resource Center,
Inc. (freedomofmind.com), a consulting, counseling, and publishing
organization dedicated to upholding human rights, promoting consumer
awareness, and exposing abuses of undue influence, mind control, and
destructive cults.

				He has co-developed a groundbreaking curriculum, Ending The Game,
to help victims of sex trafficking to understand psychological
coercion used by pimps and traffickers. He does trainings for mental
health professionals and law enforcement groups including the Joint
Regional Intelligence Organization (JRIC.org ). He has blogged for The
Huffington Post and is often quoted in newspaper and magazine
articles. He has addressed hundreds of religious, professional, and
educational groups throughout the world.

				Mr. Hassan is a member of The Program in Psychiatry and the Law at
Harvard, a forensic think tank. He has established a non-profit
Freedom from Undue Influence, a division of Dare Association, where he
is researching undue influence under the supervision of Dr. Michael
Commons. He is a doctoral student at Fielding Graduate University and
is seeking to do quantitative research on the BITE model of mind
control as a potential forensic instrument.

				In his commitment to fight against destructive cults, Mr. Hassan
devotes a major portion of his time and energy to actively consulting
with individuals and organizations.

				Please see his websites at freedomofmind.com and
freedomfromundueinfluence.org or on Facebook for updated information.


Endnotes for Chapter 12
				193. Words matter in ‘ISIS’ war, so use ‘Daesh”.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/09/words-matter-isis-war-use-daesh/V85GYEuasEEJgrUun0dMUP/story.html
				194. http://www.fbi.gov/?came_from=http%3a//www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/september-2011/sovereign-citizens
and Stephen A. Kent 2003 paper for the European Federation of Centres
of Research and Information on Sectarianism FECRIS.org “FREEMEN,
SOVEREIGN CITIZENS, AND THE THREAT TO PUBLIC ORDER IN BRITISH HERITAGE
COUNTRIES” online at
http://griess.st1.at/gsk/fecris/copenhagen/Kent_EN.pdf
				
				195. CBS 60 Minutes flew me to Tokyo right after the sarin gas
terrorist attack to be their “in the field” expert for the segment
they aired. Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s Destroying the World to Save It
applies his 8 criteria in this book and is an excellent account of the
 Aum Shinrikyo mind control cult.
				196. Fraser Report: https://freedomofmind.com//Info/docs/fraserport.pdf
				197. US Navy Intelligence launched the first mind control program,
Operation Bluebird, in the 1940s. There were various other programs,
including MK Naomi. Curiously, the first mention of these sinister
experiments was made by cult founder, Ron Hubbard, in his 1951 book
Science of Survival, where he spoke of “pain-drug-hypnosis.” It is not
impossible that Scientology itself was part of such a program. It
would certainly explain the reluctance of the U.S. government to
curtail its activities.
				198. See Professor Christopher Simpson, Science of Coercion,
Communication Research & Psychological Warfare 1945-1960, (1994), OUP,
NY: ‘Military, intelligence, and propaganda agencies such as the
Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency helped to
bankroll substantially all of the post-World War II generation’s
research into techniques of persuasion, opinion measurement,
interrogation, political and military mobilization, propagation of
ideology, and related questions. The persuasion studies, in
particular, provided much of the scientific underpinning for modern
advertising and motivational techniques. This government-financed
communication research went well beyond what would have been possible
with private sector money alone and often exploited military recruits,
who comprised a unique pool of test subjects.’ pp.3-4.
				199. Studying destructive cult behavior and its effects on human
beings is a window into what should be impermissible scientific
research experimentation.
				200. http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
				201. Mind Control: Psychological Reality or Mindless Rhetoric? By
Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo (November 2002, Vol. 33, No. 10).
				202. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_Task_Force_on_Deceptive_and_Indirect_Methods_of_Persuasion_and_Control
				203. Janja Lalich is professor of sociology at California State
University, Chico and has authored many important books, including
Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults (University of
California Press, 2004).
				204. Stephen Kent, Narcissistic Grandiosity and the Life of Sun
Myung Moon, (July 5, 2014,International Cultic Studies Association,
Silver Spring, Maryland).
				205. Routledge Press, 2014.
				206. Basic Books, 2003. Sam Vaknin, Ph.D., Malignant Self Love:
Narcissism Revisited.
				207. Flavil R. Yeakley, The Discipling Dilemma (Nashville: Gospel
Advocate Press, 1982).
				208. The Discipling Dilemma is now available online at
http://www.somis.org/tdd-01.html
				209. Guochuan Tsai, Donald Condie, Ming-Ting Wue, and I-Wen
Change. “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Personality Switches
in a Woman with Dissociative Identity Disorders.”Harvard Review of
Psychiatry7 (1999): 119-22.
				210. Dr. Burns’ web site is http://feelinggood.com/ He has an
excellent and statistically valid set of measurement tools for
evaluating people’s progress and for teaching people how to develop
control over their thoughts, emotions and behavior. This is a totally
ethical mind control approach emphasizing that people’s locus of
control should be within themselves, not with some external authority
figure.
				211. There are videos of the CFFP annual conference in 2013 for
free and the 2014 is available for purchase. I moderated an amazing
panel of survivors of child abuse in 2013 and the video of that
program is at http://childfriendlyfaith.org/conference-2013/videos-from-cffp-conference-2013/.
Bethany Brittain, a board member, spoke about being a victim of
extreme corporal punishment by her Christian parents who were
followers of Roy Lessing’s guidelines. Joel Engleman was a victim of a
pedophile in the Satmar Hasidic group in New York. He is involved with
an organization, Footsteps, which helps people leave the orthodox
Jewish groups. Liz Heywood lost her leg as a member of Christian
Science. Rev. Jaime Romo was a victim of a priest pedophile in the
Catholic Church.
				212. Alan W. Scheflin, “Supporting Human Rights by Testifying
Against Human Wrongs,” 6 International Journal of Cultic Studies 69-82
(2015).
				213. Loyola Law School Legal Studies Paper No. 2010-53 96 Iowa
L.R. 409 (2011).
				214. Alan W. Scheflin, Supporting Human Rights by Testifying
Against Human Wrongs, International Journal of Cultic Studies 69-82
(2015).
				215. William Borders, “Moon’s Church Loses a Libel Suit in London
over Recruiting Tactics,” The New York Times (April 1, 1981).George
Greig and Ted Oliver, “Daily Mail Wins Historic Libel Action: The
Damning Verdict on the Moonies,” Daily Mail (April 1, 1981), London.
Otto Friedrich, “Om… The New Age, Starring Shirley Maclaine, Faith
Healers, Channelers,  Space Travelers and Crystals Galore,” Time (Dec
7, 1987).
				216. See, e.g., NXIVM Corp. v. Sutton, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46471
(D.N.J. June 27, 2007) (the word “cult” is not actionable, nor is an
article which compares the scholarly work of Robert Jay Lifton on
cults and their common, shared characteristics with the materials
distributed by NXIVM to its enrollees, because such statements
constitute protected opinions); Nicosia v. De Rooy, 72 F. Supp. 2d
1093 (N.D. Cal. 1999) (statements accusing someone of being a
manipulative “Svengali,” with “Napoleonic aspirations,” who carried on
an “exploitative business relationship” are not actionable because
they are protected opinion); Church of Scientology v. Siegelman, 475
F. Supp. 950 (S.D.N.Y. 1979) (statements in Snapping, a book about
cults, are not actionable where they are “replete with opinions and
conclusions about the methods and practices used by the Church of
Scientology and the effect such methods and practices have . . . .”);
Beaverton Grace Bible Church v. Smith, No. C1121174CV (Or. Cir. Ct.
July 23, 2012) (blog posts saying that a pastor is a “cult leader” who
“destroy[s] relationships” are not actionable because they constitute
protected opinions); Harvest House Publishers v. Local Church, 190
S.W.3d 204 (Tex. App. 2006) (being labeled a “cult” is not actionable
because the truth or falsity of the statement depends upon one’s
religious beliefs); Sands v. Living Word Fellowship, 34 P.3d 955
(Alaska 2001) (statements that a group is a “cult” and that a person
is a “cult recruiter” are not actionable because they are
pronouncements of religious belief and opinion). But see Landmark
Education Corporation v. Conde Nast Publication, No. 114814/93, 1994
WL 836356 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. July 7, 1993) (an allegation that a group is
a “cult” can be actionable when presented as hard news by a reporter
in a publication known for journalism).  See World Mission Society,
Church of God A NJ Nonprofit Corporation. v. Colón, No. BER-L-5274-12
(N.J. Sup. Ct. Feb. 9, 2015) (statements alleging that World Mission
is a “cult” that uses “mind control” and “destroys families” are
protected opinions and are not actionable).
				217. Heather Kavan is a lecturer in the Department of
Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University. Her
paper, “Falun Gong in the Media: What can we believe?” ANZCA08
Conference, Power and Place, Wellington, July 2008 online at
https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College of
Business/Communication and Journalism/ANZCA 2008/Refereed
Papers/Kavan_ANZCA08.pdf
				218. Available at
http://pyramidschemealert.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/The-Pyramid-Scheme-Industry-FINAL.pdf
				219. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/15/liberty-fist-nose/
				220. Touro Synagogue National Historical Site, “George Washington
and His Letter to the Jews of Newport,”
http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/gw-letter
				221. When Scientology was banned in two Australian states in the
1960s, it merely changed its name to The Church of the New Faith
				222. The Documentary about the Jehovah’s Witnesses can be found
at:http://buy.hereliesthetruth.com/
				223. The U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights is online at:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
				224. ISIS Is a Cult That Uses Terrorism: A Fresh New Strategy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-hassan/isis-is-a-cult-that-uses-_b_6023890.html
				
				225. It’s Time to End the Church of Scientology’s Tax-Exempt
Status by Steven Hassan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-hassan/its-time-to-end-the-churc_b_555843.html


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Clinical Hypnosis. New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2003. Print.
				
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The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior ... and Feel Great
Again. New York: Plume, 1994. Print.
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Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life. New York: Free, 2009.
Print.
				
				A more extensive bibliography can be found on our website:
https://freedomofmind.com/Bibliography/

From
Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection,
Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults
Steven Hassan
https://books.apple.com/us/book/combating-cult-mind-control-the-1-best-selling-guide