Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, Page 32
modifies the former, which in turn provides information that stimulates the latter. Research
undergirds action, which reveals new areas of research.
If research and action needs are coordinated and balanced, governmental and institutional
authorities can more easily make informed and balanced decisions about assistance and
educational needs of people affected by, or at risk of being affected by, harmful cultic
entanglements. Good information is vital to these authorities because their special challenge
is to balance competing rights and responsibilities, not to pronounce in favor of one over
others. (Law professor Randy Kandel, Ph.D. and AFF President, Herbert Rosedale, Esq. will
address these issues in their talks.)
Cult educational organizations must respect the need for authorities and their own
organizations to continually inform, evaluate, and modify remedial actions to take account
of new research findings. All organizations do not have to conduct research, but all
organizations should try to cooperate with and keep abreast of research studies, especially
those studies that have some practical implications for helping people. If we neglect study
and research, we run the risk of becoming ideologically rigid like the groups we criticize, and
we will never change our thinking because we think we know all that is worth knowing.
Instead, let us all acknowledge that we don't know as much as we think and that we should
work together in order to learn together.
References
A Collective of Women. (1997). Sex, lies, and grand schemes of thought in closed groups.
Cultic Studies Journal, 14(1) 58-84.
Amitrani, A., &Di Marzio, R. (2000a). ―Mind Control‖ in new religious movements and the
American Psychological Association. Cultic Studies Journal, 17, 101-122.
Amitrania, A. &Di Marzio, R. (2000b). Blind, or just don‘t want to see? Brainwashing,
mystification, and suspicion. Cultic Studies Journal, 17, 122-142.
Barker, E. (1995). The scientific study of religion? You must be joking! (Presidential address
to the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion). Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion, 34(3), 287-310.
Clark, J. G. (1979). Cults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 242, 279-281.
The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. (1971). Oxford (England): Oxford
University Press.
Cults, evangelicals, and the ethics of social influence. (1985). Cultic Studies Journal (special
issue), 2(2).
Hood, R.W., Spilka, B., Hunsberger, B. &Gorsuch, R. (1996). The psychology of religion: An
empirical approach (second edition). New York: Guilford.
James, William. (1961) The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Macmillan.
(Originally published in 1902.)
Kent, Stephen. (1997, November). Methodological problems studying brainwashing in
Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, San Diego, CA (quoted in Zablocki, 1998).
Langone, Michael D. (2000). The two ―camps‖ of cultic studies: Time for a dialogue. Cultic
Studies Journal, 17, 79-100.
Lottick, E. (1993, Feb.). Survey reveals physicians‘ experiences with cults. Pennsylvania
Medicine, 96, 26-28.
Pratt, J.B. (1920). The religious consciousness. New York: Macmillan.
Rochford. E. B. (1998). Child abuse in the Hare Krishna Movement: 1971-1986. ISKCON
Communications Journal, 6(1), 43-70.
Zablocki, Benjamin. (1998).Exit cost analysis: A new approach to the scientific study of
brainwashing. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 1(2),
216-249
modifies the former, which in turn provides information that stimulates the latter. Research
undergirds action, which reveals new areas of research.
If research and action needs are coordinated and balanced, governmental and institutional
authorities can more easily make informed and balanced decisions about assistance and
educational needs of people affected by, or at risk of being affected by, harmful cultic
entanglements. Good information is vital to these authorities because their special challenge
is to balance competing rights and responsibilities, not to pronounce in favor of one over
others. (Law professor Randy Kandel, Ph.D. and AFF President, Herbert Rosedale, Esq. will
address these issues in their talks.)
Cult educational organizations must respect the need for authorities and their own
organizations to continually inform, evaluate, and modify remedial actions to take account
of new research findings. All organizations do not have to conduct research, but all
organizations should try to cooperate with and keep abreast of research studies, especially
those studies that have some practical implications for helping people. If we neglect study
and research, we run the risk of becoming ideologically rigid like the groups we criticize, and
we will never change our thinking because we think we know all that is worth knowing.
Instead, let us all acknowledge that we don't know as much as we think and that we should
work together in order to learn together.
References
A Collective of Women. (1997). Sex, lies, and grand schemes of thought in closed groups.
Cultic Studies Journal, 14(1) 58-84.
Amitrani, A., &Di Marzio, R. (2000a). ―Mind Control‖ in new religious movements and the
American Psychological Association. Cultic Studies Journal, 17, 101-122.
Amitrania, A. &Di Marzio, R. (2000b). Blind, or just don‘t want to see? Brainwashing,
mystification, and suspicion. Cultic Studies Journal, 17, 122-142.
Barker, E. (1995). The scientific study of religion? You must be joking! (Presidential address
to the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion). Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion, 34(3), 287-310.
Clark, J. G. (1979). Cults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 242, 279-281.
The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. (1971). Oxford (England): Oxford
University Press.
Cults, evangelicals, and the ethics of social influence. (1985). Cultic Studies Journal (special
issue), 2(2).
Hood, R.W., Spilka, B., Hunsberger, B. &Gorsuch, R. (1996). The psychology of religion: An
empirical approach (second edition). New York: Guilford.
James, William. (1961) The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Macmillan.
(Originally published in 1902.)
Kent, Stephen. (1997, November). Methodological problems studying brainwashing in
Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, San Diego, CA (quoted in Zablocki, 1998).
Langone, Michael D. (2000). The two ―camps‖ of cultic studies: Time for a dialogue. Cultic
Studies Journal, 17, 79-100.
Lottick, E. (1993, Feb.). Survey reveals physicians‘ experiences with cults. Pennsylvania
Medicine, 96, 26-28.
Pratt, J.B. (1920). The religious consciousness. New York: Macmillan.
Rochford. E. B. (1998). Child abuse in the Hare Krishna Movement: 1971-1986. ISKCON
Communications Journal, 6(1), 43-70.
Zablocki, Benjamin. (1998).Exit cost analysis: A new approach to the scientific study of
brainwashing. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 1(2),
216-249
