Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 22
Violence
One thing that terrorists have in common is the use of violence against their enemies
outside their group, including noncombatants. Insurgents in Israel, Ireland, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Pakistan or Sri Lanka kill those whom they allege occupy their homelands. Whether or
not these groups are part of a world wide conspiracy is debatable. In contrast, many
abusive cultic groups tend to direct their aggression against insiders or former insiders
(Dole, 2002). Although outsiders can be "fair game," with few exceptions cults‘ main
mission is the conversion and exploitation of their members
For example, Kent (2004) has borrowed from the family violence and sociology of violence
literature to identify four interrelated domains associated with religious violence: (Kent,
2004, p. 101): (1) intrapsychic or biopsychosocial contributors (2) interpersonal
contributors (3) intragroup contributors and (4) intergroup contributors.
Kent (2004, pp. 125-128) lists 22 sects, cults, and new religions involved with violent
deaths during the past four decades. Of these only three—Manson in the United States,
Aum Shinrikyo in Japan, and the Movement for the Restoration of God in Uganda—killed
substantial numbers of innocent outsiders.
I scanned all News reports published in the Cultic Studies Review from 2002 to 2004. I
found stories of fraud, abuse of women and children, and negligent homicide, but no
instances of mass murder. In other words, some groups monitored by CSR may exhibit
criminal behaviors but few could be classified as terrorists or killer cults such as Al Qaeda.
Terrorists or Cultists?
How similar are terrorist and cultic groups on salient characteristics of psychological abuse?
To explore this question I administered the Group Psychological Scale, GPA, (Chambers,
Langone, Dole &Grice, 1994) to a class of 10 senior adults a few days after 9/11. After a
brief presentation about cults based on available public knowledge at that time about Al
Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, I asked them to respond to the GPA. Recall that the GPA
comprises 28 items that purport to measure the varieties of cultic abuse. (More about this
use of the GPA shortly.) On each of four subscales (Compliance, Exploitation, Mind Control,
and Anxious Dependency,) and on the total score Al Qaeda was rated characteristic of a
psychologically abusive religious group. Dole concluded: (2002, p221)
In other words, the public image of bin Laden and his followers shortly after
the suicides was that they resembled a very abusive group. It is important to
stress that an accurate GPA rating by former Al Qaeda members is not
currently obtainable. Rather, as a psychologist I could argue that the U.S.
had successfully demonized Bin Laden, its opponent.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 23
Exhibit A
Group Psychological Abuse Scale
Groups Rated by Dole: Iraqi Rulers Iraqi Insurgents Afghan Al
Qaeda Heavens Gate
Directions:
This rating scale is designed to evaluate certain aspects of religious,
psychotherapeutic, political, commercial, and other groups. Please
rate, as best you can, the degree to which the following statements
characterize the group under consideration. Rate each group
according to your knowledge (reading, television, radio, experience,
and observation) of how the group functions. Write in the number
of the best answer, using the following ratings:
1 =not at all characteristic
2 =not characteristic
3 =can't say/not sure
4 =characteristic
5 =very characteristic
Sub Scales with Examples:
COMPLIANCE. Example: Members are expected to serve the
groups leaders.
EXPLOITATION. Example: The group approves of violence against
outsiders.
(e.g., "satanic communists," etc.)
MIND CONTROL. Example: Mind control is used without conscious
consent of members.
ANXIOUS DEPENDENCY. Example: The group believes or implies
its leader is divine.
Scores
The score for each sub scale represents the mean of the seven item
means assigned to a factor (range per item 1.0-5.0). The Total
represents the mean of all 28 ratings. See Chambers et al. (1994)
for a description of this measure of the varieties of cultic abuse by a
particular group..
For this paper, as shown in Exhibit A, I selected two terrorist groups—the secularist Iraqi
Rulers (Baath party) before the Gulf War, the current Iraqi Insurgents—and two cultic
groups—the Afghanistan based Al Qaeda (Wahabbi Muslims) and the American Heaven‘s
Gate. I chose each group primarily on the basis of my familiarity with them through
reading, television, and /or radio. Although the GPA provided me with a common framework
with which to view the groups, I make no claim to the scientific rigor and objectivity of my
findings. Comparing case studies (Isaac &Michael, 2004) is a valuable exploratory method,
although differences cannot be tested for statistical significance, and my selection of the
four groups for convenience, rather than randomly, limits generalization.
To each of the four groups I applied the Directions for the Group Psychological Abuse Scale,
modified to stress my knowledge of the group. (The original scale asked former group