Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 169
Election Commission, so you can ‗jump on.‘ ‖ (Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, Internet,
5/04)
Order of Christ Sophia
Cult-like Controls Alleged
Former member Nancy Wainer says the Boston area branch of the Order of Christ Sophia,
a self-described mystical Christian organization devoted to meditation and prayer, is a
dangerous cult that breaks up families. ―They use deception, mind control, hypnosis, all
kinds of devious tactics to get you to follow them blindly.‖
Wainer‘s adult daughter, Andrea, now with the new name Michelle, given her by the Order,
has moved to Oakland, CA, to be with the group‘s leader, the self-ordained Rev. Peter
Bowes. Bowes was forced several years ago to give up his license to practice psychology in
Wisconsin after patients filed complaints that he used his position to recruit them into the
Order.
Wainer laments: ―They‘ve taught my daughter that I‘m a terrible person. My daughter
doesn‘t have any memories anymore of the loving relationship we have.‖ Says Andrea‘s
father, Paul Cohen: ―There are times I can talk to Andrea, but then Michelle takes over, and
when she is in control, she is in control.‖ Another set of parents has similar complaints, but
two who are current members feel their family‘s association with the Order has been good.
Order co-founder Mother Claire Watts said, when visiting Boston recently: ―The thing they
call brainwashing is visualizing yourself in a bubble of light, letting go of negative energy. I
feel sorry for their sons and daughters whose parents get on TV to say how stupid they
are.‖ (Boston Channel, Internet, 6/28/04)
Persuasion
Using Religion to Persuade Investors
Salesmen using religious terminology bilk investors out of millions of dollars annually. Jon
Bloch, assistant professor of sociology at Southern Connecticut State University explains
that for people with a certain kind of religious background, the invocation of certain words
or passages from Scripture ―can produce an emotional experience‖ that makes them
especially vulnerable to a sales pitch. ―If you get someone who‘s wearing their religion on
their shirt sleeve and the same time offering to advise you on financial matters, there tends
to be a higher level of trust than with just any banker or financial advisor.‖ The victim may
feel doubly violated, for there is not only a financial loss, but spiritual victimization. (Paul
Doyle, Hartford Courant, Internet, 4/18/04)
Group Pressure Can Transform Individuals
The [unnamed] author of a new biography of the eminent psychologist Stanley Milgram,
entitled The Man Who Shocked the World, discusses how Milgram‘s experiments that
induced normal men to give apparently fatal electric shocks to volunteer subjects
revolutionized our understanding of social psychology. We now see genocides and other
atrocities as largely the work of ordinary people, not sadists or otherwise abnormal
individuals.
Today, we believe that most people can be transformed into mass murderers under the
right circumstances because, as other experiments have shown, there is a ―strong tendency
to conform to the dominant beliefs of whatever group they happen to find themselves in,
even if this requires denying apparently overwhelming evidence.‖
Indeed, experiments show that people actually internalize new beliefs under group pressure,
rather than simply choosing to accept or reject them. So it‘s not surprising that a great
Election Commission, so you can ‗jump on.‘ ‖ (Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, Internet,
5/04)
Order of Christ Sophia
Cult-like Controls Alleged
Former member Nancy Wainer says the Boston area branch of the Order of Christ Sophia,
a self-described mystical Christian organization devoted to meditation and prayer, is a
dangerous cult that breaks up families. ―They use deception, mind control, hypnosis, all
kinds of devious tactics to get you to follow them blindly.‖
Wainer‘s adult daughter, Andrea, now with the new name Michelle, given her by the Order,
has moved to Oakland, CA, to be with the group‘s leader, the self-ordained Rev. Peter
Bowes. Bowes was forced several years ago to give up his license to practice psychology in
Wisconsin after patients filed complaints that he used his position to recruit them into the
Order.
Wainer laments: ―They‘ve taught my daughter that I‘m a terrible person. My daughter
doesn‘t have any memories anymore of the loving relationship we have.‖ Says Andrea‘s
father, Paul Cohen: ―There are times I can talk to Andrea, but then Michelle takes over, and
when she is in control, she is in control.‖ Another set of parents has similar complaints, but
two who are current members feel their family‘s association with the Order has been good.
Order co-founder Mother Claire Watts said, when visiting Boston recently: ―The thing they
call brainwashing is visualizing yourself in a bubble of light, letting go of negative energy. I
feel sorry for their sons and daughters whose parents get on TV to say how stupid they
are.‖ (Boston Channel, Internet, 6/28/04)
Persuasion
Using Religion to Persuade Investors
Salesmen using religious terminology bilk investors out of millions of dollars annually. Jon
Bloch, assistant professor of sociology at Southern Connecticut State University explains
that for people with a certain kind of religious background, the invocation of certain words
or passages from Scripture ―can produce an emotional experience‖ that makes them
especially vulnerable to a sales pitch. ―If you get someone who‘s wearing their religion on
their shirt sleeve and the same time offering to advise you on financial matters, there tends
to be a higher level of trust than with just any banker or financial advisor.‖ The victim may
feel doubly violated, for there is not only a financial loss, but spiritual victimization. (Paul
Doyle, Hartford Courant, Internet, 4/18/04)
Group Pressure Can Transform Individuals
The [unnamed] author of a new biography of the eminent psychologist Stanley Milgram,
entitled The Man Who Shocked the World, discusses how Milgram‘s experiments that
induced normal men to give apparently fatal electric shocks to volunteer subjects
revolutionized our understanding of social psychology. We now see genocides and other
atrocities as largely the work of ordinary people, not sadists or otherwise abnormal
individuals.
Today, we believe that most people can be transformed into mass murderers under the
right circumstances because, as other experiments have shown, there is a ―strong tendency
to conform to the dominant beliefs of whatever group they happen to find themselves in,
even if this requires denying apparently overwhelming evidence.‖
Indeed, experiments show that people actually internalize new beliefs under group pressure,
rather than simply choosing to accept or reject them. So it‘s not surprising that a great
