and which also became the center for legal
battles to overcome child abuse (p. 246). The
third of Rita’s conditions for success was met in
Patrick Robbins, the other hero of the book.
Patrick was a member of The Followers Church,
a church with a long history, having its origins
in London England in the late 1600s. The
Followers Church “had arrived in America
almost three hundred years ago, had thrived
throughout four Great Awakenings, and had
nurtured the spirits of fifty generations” (p. 430).
The Followers, together with the Church of the
First Born, appeared to Rita Swan to be “the two
most lethal churches in America … sharing
harsh doctrines of medical avoidance, literal
interpretation of the Bible, lifelong shunning of
presumed sinners, and extreme fear of a brutally
tortuous hell” (p. 249). The bulk of the book
tells the story of four cases of faith-healing
abuse in Patrick’s church, and the legal battles
surrounding these four cases. Patrick himself
gradually loses faith in the church’s position on
faith healing. He is very much aware of what
becoming an inside informant might cost him:
“I’ll lose everything. My wife. My family. My
job. My friends. I may even go to hell,” he says
to the author during an initial interview with
which the book begins (p. 1). In the end,
however, Patrick is partially successful in
changing the beliefs of his church, although the
greater victory is no doubt the inroads he made
in ending the tragedy of faith-healing abuse in
America.
Of course, these aren’t the only churches that
believe in faith healing. In a groundbreaking
study coauthored by Rita Swan and Rhode
Island pediatrician Seth Asser, and published in
the journal Pediatrics, the authors document 172
faith-healing deaths of children in America
between 1975 and 1995. These children
included babies who in some cases were literally
tortured to death. These deaths were associated
with 23 different sects in 34 states. The study
was designed conservatively to ensure its
credibility, and Rita was sure it represented only
the tip of the iceberg (p. 83). Some of the stories
are difficult to read. How can parents be so
cruel, so irrational, so subject to groupthink, to
sacrifice their own children in the name of
church doctrine that is plainly silly?
One answer that comes up repeatedly in the
book is that these people had been brainwashed.
“There are so many deeply entrenched thought
patterns that the ex-Christian Scientist has to
unlearn,” says Rita Swan, when describing the
difficulty she faced in extricating herself from
the church (p. 64).
For 150 years, those patterns had been
programmed into the brains of Christian
Scientists with virtually no allowance
for freedom of thought. Mary Baker
Eddy had refused to allow preaching or
teaching by anyone but herself, insisting
that her adherents read forty-five
minutes of specific passages from her
book and the Bible each day, with a
repetition of the same material by
Readers at church every Sunday. (p. 64)
Here we see some of the essential ingredients of
brainwashing—a charismatic and controlling
leader who does not allow subordinates to think
for themselves. What is also significant here is
that it is adults who are being brainwashed, not
just children. Hence, the telling worry of Patrick
about the Followers’ children, “who were almost
as brainwashed as the adults” (p. 144). Of
course, the parents in the Followers church kept
insisting that their children were not
brainwashed (pp. 224, 227). But then, if the
parents are themselves brainwashed, they are not
in a very good position to assess whether their
children are being brainwashed.
A few other dimensions of brainwashing come
to the fore in Patrick’s exchanges with his wife,
Theresa, after the birth of their son. Patrick tries
to engage in a rational conversation with
Theresa about the possibility of taking their baby
to a doctor if he should get sick, “but she just
rattled off slogans” (p. 219).
Like all of the Followers, she’d been
brainwashed since childhood, and even
now it was reinforced almost every
day—not in a cruel way, which he could
discredit—but through limitless acts of
kindness from people in the church.
The crazy thing was, the Followers were
good people, all of them victims of
brainwashing themselves. (p. 219)
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 71
battles to overcome child abuse (p. 246). The
third of Rita’s conditions for success was met in
Patrick Robbins, the other hero of the book.
Patrick was a member of The Followers Church,
a church with a long history, having its origins
in London England in the late 1600s. The
Followers Church “had arrived in America
almost three hundred years ago, had thrived
throughout four Great Awakenings, and had
nurtured the spirits of fifty generations” (p. 430).
The Followers, together with the Church of the
First Born, appeared to Rita Swan to be “the two
most lethal churches in America … sharing
harsh doctrines of medical avoidance, literal
interpretation of the Bible, lifelong shunning of
presumed sinners, and extreme fear of a brutally
tortuous hell” (p. 249). The bulk of the book
tells the story of four cases of faith-healing
abuse in Patrick’s church, and the legal battles
surrounding these four cases. Patrick himself
gradually loses faith in the church’s position on
faith healing. He is very much aware of what
becoming an inside informant might cost him:
“I’ll lose everything. My wife. My family. My
job. My friends. I may even go to hell,” he says
to the author during an initial interview with
which the book begins (p. 1). In the end,
however, Patrick is partially successful in
changing the beliefs of his church, although the
greater victory is no doubt the inroads he made
in ending the tragedy of faith-healing abuse in
America.
Of course, these aren’t the only churches that
believe in faith healing. In a groundbreaking
study coauthored by Rita Swan and Rhode
Island pediatrician Seth Asser, and published in
the journal Pediatrics, the authors document 172
faith-healing deaths of children in America
between 1975 and 1995. These children
included babies who in some cases were literally
tortured to death. These deaths were associated
with 23 different sects in 34 states. The study
was designed conservatively to ensure its
credibility, and Rita was sure it represented only
the tip of the iceberg (p. 83). Some of the stories
are difficult to read. How can parents be so
cruel, so irrational, so subject to groupthink, to
sacrifice their own children in the name of
church doctrine that is plainly silly?
One answer that comes up repeatedly in the
book is that these people had been brainwashed.
“There are so many deeply entrenched thought
patterns that the ex-Christian Scientist has to
unlearn,” says Rita Swan, when describing the
difficulty she faced in extricating herself from
the church (p. 64).
For 150 years, those patterns had been
programmed into the brains of Christian
Scientists with virtually no allowance
for freedom of thought. Mary Baker
Eddy had refused to allow preaching or
teaching by anyone but herself, insisting
that her adherents read forty-five
minutes of specific passages from her
book and the Bible each day, with a
repetition of the same material by
Readers at church every Sunday. (p. 64)
Here we see some of the essential ingredients of
brainwashing—a charismatic and controlling
leader who does not allow subordinates to think
for themselves. What is also significant here is
that it is adults who are being brainwashed, not
just children. Hence, the telling worry of Patrick
about the Followers’ children, “who were almost
as brainwashed as the adults” (p. 144). Of
course, the parents in the Followers church kept
insisting that their children were not
brainwashed (pp. 224, 227). But then, if the
parents are themselves brainwashed, they are not
in a very good position to assess whether their
children are being brainwashed.
A few other dimensions of brainwashing come
to the fore in Patrick’s exchanges with his wife,
Theresa, after the birth of their son. Patrick tries
to engage in a rational conversation with
Theresa about the possibility of taking their baby
to a doctor if he should get sick, “but she just
rattled off slogans” (p. 219).
Like all of the Followers, she’d been
brainwashed since childhood, and even
now it was reinforced almost every
day—not in a cruel way, which he could
discredit—but through limitless acts of
kindness from people in the church.
The crazy thing was, the Followers were
good people, all of them victims of
brainwashing themselves. (p. 219)
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 71
