perspectives on charismatic leadership in cultic
environments, with the intention of further
clarifying the trajectories of Pastor X and of the
BCW.
Godly Qualities
Weber (1906) defined charismatic leaders as
individuals who possess certain qualities that set
them apart from others, qualities that followers
see as exceptional in the sense of being
superhuman, supernatural, or even godly.
Charismatic leaders also are characterized by the
intensity of the relationship that develops
between their followers and themselves, and by
the high degree of trust and faith they experience
toward themselves. Followers develop these
high degrees of trust and faith even in
circumstances wherein they rarely or never have
personal contact with the leaders they venerate
(Weber, 1906). The idea of supernatural or
superhuman qualities is often present in the
biographies, sometimes even in the
autobiographies, of charismatic leaders and
these qualities are communicated amongst
followers as myths that appear to be valued as
evidence of the leaders’ superhuman
exceptionality. But extraordinary qualities are
not sufficient for charismatic leadership to
emerge, according to many authors who put
emphasis on a number of interactive and
dynamic processes within the group (Casoni,
1997 Casoni &Brunet, 2005 Chouvier, 1999
Chouvier &Morhain, 2008 Dawson, 2002,
2010 Friedland, 1964 Gardner &Avolio, 1998
Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, &Walumbwa,
2005 Howell &Shamir, 2005 Roy, 1998
Wallis, 1982).
Shared Ideals
Apart from doctrinal matters, the main link
between a follower and a leader consists of the
ideals they share (Casoni, 2001, 2005 Casoni &
Brunet, 2005 Lord &Brown, 2004 Zablocki,
1980). These ideals form the basis not only of
their faith, but also and more importantly of their
bond (Casoni, 1997, 2000 Weber, 1909). The
sharing of ideals is such an important process
that it has been seen as paramount in the
establishment of charismatic leadership (Casoni
&Brunet, 2005 Chouvier &Morhain, 2008
Drummond, 1983 Gardner &Avolio, 1998
Kernberg, 2003a, 2003b Lord &Brown, 2004
Roy, 1998). An idealization process is at the
basis of both the construction of charismatic
leadership and the project that binds the group to
its leader. As Drummond (1983) has discussed,
the followers’ devotion to their leader acts like a
mirror that reflects to him his wish of being seen
as someone exceptional. The ensuing illusion is
all the more intense when the leader successfully
obtains ever more acts of loyalty and devotion
from his followers through their comittment to
the projects he requires them to accomplish.
They, as a reward, bask in the reflection of their
leader’s superiority and greatness
(Bertrand,1999 Casoni, 1997 Casoni &Brunet,
2005 Durif-Varembont, 2004 Lane &Kent,
2008). Lane and Kent (2008) have pointed out
that some leaders present elements of
megalomania, giving their projects an
exagerated and even unrealizable aspect, which
influences their view of their followers and of
the outside world.
Worldviews
The projects leaders launch their followers into
are closely related to the worldview leaders
hold. This worldview, in turn, will determine
their interactions with social-control agencies
and with the law. In the case of the BCW, three
different worldviews seem to have influenced
their interactions throughout their trajectory,
both within the group and with the outside
world. Each worldview notably impacted the
way they treated their children and considered
social-control agencies.
The first worldview relevant to the BCW’s
history can be described as a philosophy of
separation, according to which groups seek to
enforce orthodoxy by requiring their members to
differentiate themselves from nonbelievers in
every symbolic way possible, be it through
speech, dress, attitude, code of conduct, or the
like (Casoni, 2000). In such groups, members
most often live and work amongst the general
population, and leadership is usually shared by a
small elite that acts as an internal social-control
agency that exercises power more often by way
of subtle persuasion than by authoritarian
control.
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The second worldview the BCW adopted can be
described as consistent with a philosophy of
purity (Casoni, 2000). This worldview goes a
step further in differentiating believers from
nonbelievers by requiring their physical
separation. According to this perspective,
members seek to rid themselves of everything
that might be deemed impure that links them to
society. Hence, contact with nonbelievers is kept
to a minimum for fear of contamination. In such
groups, leaders are venerated as the purest and
wisest of all, and their moral prestige is
extremely high. They most often lead their
group in a solitary fashion, as the incarnation of
the law, the truth, and the sole judge of purity.
In the third worldview held by the BCW, which
is an exacerbation of the philosophies of
separation and of purity, the outer world appears
dangerous to members, who project all goodness
unto the endogroup. This worldview ressembles
what Chouvier and Morhain (2008) have
described as a “cultic position” (p. 27).
Designated as a philosophy of survival, the
followers’ mindset is such that they believe they
must protect themselves from outside enemies,
unto whom all that is bad, malicious, or inpure
has been projected (Casoni, 2000). Such groups
most often seek isolated geographical settings
wherein the leader exercises power in a
plenipotentiary manner, taking on the role of an
earthly god. Total submission to the leader’s
authority is demanded and high standards of
behavior are required of children, whose
immaturity is often interpreted as
malicioussness. Their inability to conform to
these expectations is seen as a sign of evilness,
for which corporal punishment and various
repressive sanctions are used. Some children are
scapegoated and become the object of harsh
treatment that ranges from physical and
psychological abuse to rituals that might take the
form of exorcism aimed at ridding them of evil
forces (Casoni, 2000).
Methodology
This research follows guidelines for single case
studies. Using principles of qualitative
methodology, we gathered data from a variety of
sources, notably through documentary analysis
and interviews with key actors. Info-Cult, an
information center on new religious movements
and cultic groups, archived the data. The
documentary corpus was made up of about a
hundred documents, including 60 legal
transcripts from tribunals of various levels of the
justice system—i.e., criminal, penal, and civil
chambers of the Superior Court and Youth
Court, and the Office of the Prothonotary.
Additonally, we included all the related
newspaper articles published in the province of
Quebec between April 19, 1985, and March 15,
1990, and two television documentaries
produced by Radio-Canada (April 12, 1985, and
October 28, 1986) in the data we analyzed. The
testimonies of several former BCW members
were also part of the material we analyzed. We
conducted interviews with five key actors,
including the police inspector who led the
investigation, a pastor close to the BCW’s
minister, a former member of the church, and a
civil servant from the City of Windsor. Given
the multiple sources of information studied, we
were able to triangulate the data. More precise
information on the modalities of the analyses
and on methods used to limit bias is available in
the Pacheco and Casoni document (2008).
One of us also made a trip to to the region to
better contextualize the environment in which
the events took place. Finally, the Child
Protection Agency consulted the third author
before that service approached members of the
group his knowledge of the group and of the
interventions that occurred were helpful in
validating the results of this research.
Trajectory of The Baptist Church of
Windsor
The BCW was founded in 1978 in the
southeastern part of Quebec. A few years after
he had been participating in and following the
principles of the Evangelical Baptist Church of
Lennoxville, Pastor X began his only training as
a minister, a 1-year program in a close-by city.
Described as a nice and devoted man with a
warm personality, he converted many followers
to the Evangelical Baptist Church of
Lennoxville, which encouraged the congregation
to support him in his project to establish a
church in Windsor. To this end, the Evangelical
Baptist Church of Lennoxville acquired two
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 85