Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 46
Throughout the year, the members of the Foundation gave lectures and held
conferences in almost all the provinces of the country. More than 15,000 people
attended these sessions.
After battling for more than two years, FAPES managed to have the leader of the Eight
Queens, Juan Alfredo Unger, who had been accused of the corruption of minors and sexual
abuse, detained. At the end of Unger‟s detention, the judges decided to seize and impound
the property of various cultic groups (Children of God, Gnostics, Jehovah‟s Witnesses,
Superior Universal Lineage).
Those of us who began FAPES are not totally satisfied with what has occurred in 1992. We
believe that we could be helping much more and a greater number of people. We intend to
do this during 1993. I would not want to finish this speech without thanking the Pro
Juventud Association for their invitation to participate and to speak at this important
congress, and especially Maria Rosa Boladeras and Michael Langone, who for many years
have been concerned and have been good enough to encourage me so that even from a
country so far away as Argentina we could accomplish our tasks and do our work.
********************
Appendix
Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES)
The efficiency of political and religious propaganda essentially depends upon
those methods employed and not the doctrine of such. The doctrines can be
true or false, they can be sane or pernicious, this is not important. If the
indoctrination is well conducted at the time of a mental weakness, it will be
successful. Given favorable conditions, practically everyone could be
converted.
--Aldous Huxley
Parents, relatives, psychologists, sociologists, journalists, and all concerned citizens have
decided to meet to study and bring light to the phenomenon of the pseudoreligious cults
and to offer legal, psychological, and social counseling to all those people who have suffered
because of the new phenomenon that endangers the freedom of the individual and of
society as a whole.
Many believe that the birth of the Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES)
owes its existence to the needs of parents and relatives who have suffered the pain of
having a family member in a cult. This is only partially true, because FAPES is also made up
of professionals and citizens who believe that this is a problem that affects our whole
society because humankind‟s freedom is affected when thought reform is utilized.
One of the basic rules of FAPES will be not to discuss the dogma on which these groups are
based, but to denounce the methods they employ to reduce their members to servitude
through lies and the depersonalization of the individual. By conducting research without
prejudging the final conclusion, researchers can announce that a specific group looks clear
and safe, could even be constructive and beneficial, or can show that it could be a danger
and could attack individual, familial, or social values.
Pseudoreligious cults, psychotherapeutic groups, meditation techniques, relaxation, corporal
liberation, expansion of the conscience, therapies to liberate fears and anguishes, Eastern
techniques, ufology groups, bioenergy, and so forth-all a spiritual supermarket that by use
of unfair techniques offers everything from smoking cessation to eternal salvation.
In conclusion, the goal of FAPES is to help families and all people affected by destructive
cults, to do preventive education, to denounce abuses, and to inform the public.
Throughout the year, the members of the Foundation gave lectures and held
conferences in almost all the provinces of the country. More than 15,000 people
attended these sessions.
After battling for more than two years, FAPES managed to have the leader of the Eight
Queens, Juan Alfredo Unger, who had been accused of the corruption of minors and sexual
abuse, detained. At the end of Unger‟s detention, the judges decided to seize and impound
the property of various cultic groups (Children of God, Gnostics, Jehovah‟s Witnesses,
Superior Universal Lineage).
Those of us who began FAPES are not totally satisfied with what has occurred in 1992. We
believe that we could be helping much more and a greater number of people. We intend to
do this during 1993. I would not want to finish this speech without thanking the Pro
Juventud Association for their invitation to participate and to speak at this important
congress, and especially Maria Rosa Boladeras and Michael Langone, who for many years
have been concerned and have been good enough to encourage me so that even from a
country so far away as Argentina we could accomplish our tasks and do our work.
********************
Appendix
Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES)
The efficiency of political and religious propaganda essentially depends upon
those methods employed and not the doctrine of such. The doctrines can be
true or false, they can be sane or pernicious, this is not important. If the
indoctrination is well conducted at the time of a mental weakness, it will be
successful. Given favorable conditions, practically everyone could be
converted.
--Aldous Huxley
Parents, relatives, psychologists, sociologists, journalists, and all concerned citizens have
decided to meet to study and bring light to the phenomenon of the pseudoreligious cults
and to offer legal, psychological, and social counseling to all those people who have suffered
because of the new phenomenon that endangers the freedom of the individual and of
society as a whole.
Many believe that the birth of the Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES)
owes its existence to the needs of parents and relatives who have suffered the pain of
having a family member in a cult. This is only partially true, because FAPES is also made up
of professionals and citizens who believe that this is a problem that affects our whole
society because humankind‟s freedom is affected when thought reform is utilized.
One of the basic rules of FAPES will be not to discuss the dogma on which these groups are
based, but to denounce the methods they employ to reduce their members to servitude
through lies and the depersonalization of the individual. By conducting research without
prejudging the final conclusion, researchers can announce that a specific group looks clear
and safe, could even be constructive and beneficial, or can show that it could be a danger
and could attack individual, familial, or social values.
Pseudoreligious cults, psychotherapeutic groups, meditation techniques, relaxation, corporal
liberation, expansion of the conscience, therapies to liberate fears and anguishes, Eastern
techniques, ufology groups, bioenergy, and so forth-all a spiritual supermarket that by use
of unfair techniques offers everything from smoking cessation to eternal salvation.
In conclusion, the goal of FAPES is to help families and all people affected by destructive
cults, to do preventive education, to denounce abuses, and to inform the public.
