Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 17
Conclusion
Cult-watch groups can only be effective as pathways for complaints and intelligence they
can only serve their purpose if they continue to criticise deviant religious practices,
obnoxious movements, and charlatans with maximum freedom of speech. I note with
concern the sometimes well-meaning moves to restrict free speech with respect to religions,
of which cults, sects, and new religious movements form an inseparable part so far as legal
definitions of religion are applied. Hence, moves at the UN level to devise a code of conduct
for what can be said about religion are really attempts to institute blasphemy laws all
around—a trap that religious vilification laws can so easily fall into. Now we have Islamic
clerics in Australia pushing for new laws to ―criminalise the mockery of religious
prophets.‖xxviii But one man‘s prophet is a conman to another. To the contrary, what is
really needed is a genuine undertaking by religious groups to devise codes of conduct for
themselves so as to eliminate unacceptable religious practices and to deal by exclusion with
those intolerant religious groups that persist in aberrant behaviour. The way in which
religions respond to apostates and critics is one aspect that requires guidance for
appropriate norms of behaviour. I note that Dr. Thiessen is scheduled to present at this
conference on the need to define precise criteria to distinguish between ethical and
unethical proselytising. It is this type of detailed examination that should recommend itself
to public policy makers.
Notes
i Ian Freckelton, ―‘Cults,‘ Calamities and Psychological Consequences,‖ Psychiatry, Psychology, and
Law 5, no. 1 (1998). pp. 3-4.
ii Sect—‗A body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith. ..a group regarded as deviating
from the general religious tradition or heretical,‘ Macquarie University, The Macquarie Dictionary
(Sydney: Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 1981).
iii Even to the extent that the Australian government is actively considering the use of
deprogramming for terrorists, ―Abbas Happy to Deprogram Aussie Terrorists,‖ Sydney Morning Herald,
10 March 2006, ―Australian Government Considers De-Programming Terrorists,‖ The Age, 9 March
2006, Patrick Goodenough, ―Can Terrorists be ‗Reprogrammed‘?,‖ CNSNews.com, 10 March 2006.
iv Francis Fukuyama, After the Neocons (Allen &Unwin, 2006).
v Daniel Benjamin &Steven Simon, The Next Attack: The Globilization of Jihad (London: Hodder &
Stoughton Ltd, 2005). P. 112.
vi Robert Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (Melbourne: Scribe, 2005).
pp. 178-179.
vii It is incredible that Zarqawi‘s touted successor, Abu Mustafa, was detained in Abu Ghraib in 2004,
where he reportedly ‗joined a prison yard religious school which, the cleric in charge openly admitted,
taught not just the Koran but holy war.‘ Michael Ware, ―Zarqawi Disciple Ready to Fill Void,‖ Weekend
Australian, 10 June 2006. In 1994 Zarqawi and his colleague Al-Maqdisi commandeered a dormitory of
Swaqa prison in Jordan, where they proceeded to indoctrinate political prisoners and isolated them
from other inmates, Paul McGeough, ―The Making of a Monster,‖ Goodweekend: The Sydney Morning
Herald Magazine, 16 October 2005. p. 23.
viii Tom Allard, ―Citizen to Terrorist a Quick Step: ASIO Chief,‖ Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March
2006.
ix I agree with my former parliamentary colleague Petro Georgiou that key components of Australian
multiculturalism are a valuable resource in the so-called war on terrorism, Petro Georgiou,
―Multiculturalism and the War on Terror,‖ AustralianPolicyOnline, 20 October 2005.
x Sharon Churcher, ―suicide Bomber Cried for Sept 11 Victims,‖ Daily Telegraph, 18 July 2005.
xi James Button, ―London Bomber Slipped the Net Twice Before,‖ Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July
2005.
xii Michael D. Langone, ―Assessment and Treatment of Cult Victims and Their Families,‖ in
Innovations in Clinical Practice Vol 10 (Sarasota, Florida: 1990).
xiii For example, ‗the equally perturbing rise of anti-cult groups which are just as threatening as the
cults from which they profess to rescue people‘ is noted in Lynne Hume, ―Witchcraft and the Law in
Australia,‖ Journal of Church and State 37 (1995). p. 145.
Conclusion
Cult-watch groups can only be effective as pathways for complaints and intelligence they
can only serve their purpose if they continue to criticise deviant religious practices,
obnoxious movements, and charlatans with maximum freedom of speech. I note with
concern the sometimes well-meaning moves to restrict free speech with respect to religions,
of which cults, sects, and new religious movements form an inseparable part so far as legal
definitions of religion are applied. Hence, moves at the UN level to devise a code of conduct
for what can be said about religion are really attempts to institute blasphemy laws all
around—a trap that religious vilification laws can so easily fall into. Now we have Islamic
clerics in Australia pushing for new laws to ―criminalise the mockery of religious
prophets.‖xxviii But one man‘s prophet is a conman to another. To the contrary, what is
really needed is a genuine undertaking by religious groups to devise codes of conduct for
themselves so as to eliminate unacceptable religious practices and to deal by exclusion with
those intolerant religious groups that persist in aberrant behaviour. The way in which
religions respond to apostates and critics is one aspect that requires guidance for
appropriate norms of behaviour. I note that Dr. Thiessen is scheduled to present at this
conference on the need to define precise criteria to distinguish between ethical and
unethical proselytising. It is this type of detailed examination that should recommend itself
to public policy makers.
Notes
i Ian Freckelton, ―‘Cults,‘ Calamities and Psychological Consequences,‖ Psychiatry, Psychology, and
Law 5, no. 1 (1998). pp. 3-4.
ii Sect—‗A body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith. ..a group regarded as deviating
from the general religious tradition or heretical,‘ Macquarie University, The Macquarie Dictionary
(Sydney: Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 1981).
iii Even to the extent that the Australian government is actively considering the use of
deprogramming for terrorists, ―Abbas Happy to Deprogram Aussie Terrorists,‖ Sydney Morning Herald,
10 March 2006, ―Australian Government Considers De-Programming Terrorists,‖ The Age, 9 March
2006, Patrick Goodenough, ―Can Terrorists be ‗Reprogrammed‘?,‖ CNSNews.com, 10 March 2006.
iv Francis Fukuyama, After the Neocons (Allen &Unwin, 2006).
v Daniel Benjamin &Steven Simon, The Next Attack: The Globilization of Jihad (London: Hodder &
Stoughton Ltd, 2005). P. 112.
vi Robert Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (Melbourne: Scribe, 2005).
pp. 178-179.
vii It is incredible that Zarqawi‘s touted successor, Abu Mustafa, was detained in Abu Ghraib in 2004,
where he reportedly ‗joined a prison yard religious school which, the cleric in charge openly admitted,
taught not just the Koran but holy war.‘ Michael Ware, ―Zarqawi Disciple Ready to Fill Void,‖ Weekend
Australian, 10 June 2006. In 1994 Zarqawi and his colleague Al-Maqdisi commandeered a dormitory of
Swaqa prison in Jordan, where they proceeded to indoctrinate political prisoners and isolated them
from other inmates, Paul McGeough, ―The Making of a Monster,‖ Goodweekend: The Sydney Morning
Herald Magazine, 16 October 2005. p. 23.
viii Tom Allard, ―Citizen to Terrorist a Quick Step: ASIO Chief,‖ Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March
2006.
ix I agree with my former parliamentary colleague Petro Georgiou that key components of Australian
multiculturalism are a valuable resource in the so-called war on terrorism, Petro Georgiou,
―Multiculturalism and the War on Terror,‖ AustralianPolicyOnline, 20 October 2005.
x Sharon Churcher, ―suicide Bomber Cried for Sept 11 Victims,‖ Daily Telegraph, 18 July 2005.
xi James Button, ―London Bomber Slipped the Net Twice Before,‖ Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July
2005.
xii Michael D. Langone, ―Assessment and Treatment of Cult Victims and Their Families,‖ in
Innovations in Clinical Practice Vol 10 (Sarasota, Florida: 1990).
xiii For example, ‗the equally perturbing rise of anti-cult groups which are just as threatening as the
cults from which they profess to rescue people‘ is noted in Lynne Hume, ―Witchcraft and the Law in
Australia,‖ Journal of Church and State 37 (1995). p. 145.
