16 ICSA TODAY 17 VOLUME 10 |ISSUE 3 |2019
deprogrammers, which term at the time encompassed voluntary
and involuntary (i.e., dependent upon an abduction). Later, the
term exit counseling replaced voluntary deprogramming since, in
popular usage, deprogramming implied abduction. So even if
there were less affluent people and minorities affected by cults,
we didn’t know about them because they probably couldn’t
afford to get the necessary help, even if they knew how to
obtain it.
Yes, in those years, few knew how to get the help they needed.
Pre-Internet, if one was fortunate enough to find out about
us, it was probably via radio or television programs. One
woman told me she was listening to a radio program in her
automobile and pulled over to the side of the road to jot
down our telephone number on a scrap of paper! And the
contact had to be via telephone or snail mail. At some point
while I was on staff, I volunteered to answer the telephone—a
decision I would later regret so I received calls all day from
desperate families and loved ones. This stressful activity (I was
not trained, as a professional social worker would have been, to
distance myself) caused me to resign after 10 years, unable to
emotionally deal with the terrible stories I heard constantly.
Fortunately, at the same time I resigned in 1998, the new
Internet was expanding. Soon people didn’t need to telephone
or write us. By simply typing key words, they could easily access
information and advice.
Over these 40 years, one of the most important changes I
have observed is the composition of cult membership: Now
about half the former members entering our network were
born or raised in groups. Entire families—including adults
(not necessarily elderly) and children born into and raised
in groups—are involved, making the process of leaving and
adjusting to the outside world much more difficult. In response
to these changes, ICSA over time has adjusted its assistance
offerings to aid these families and those born and raised in
groups, not just young people who may have been in a group
for only a few years. Many ICSA workshops and conference
sessions are restricted to the “born or raised,” who experience
unique problems of recovery numerous written and
audiovisual resources also are aimed at these former members.
Throughout these years, ICSA has professionalized the help
former members and loved ones receive. In the early days
of the movement, parents of members, untrained former
members, or perhaps well-intentioned but untrained (in
this field) clergy and mental-health professionals provided
assistance. Sometimes more harm than good was done. One
of ICSA’s abiding goals has been to professionalize the general
countercult network. Many former members have become
mental health professionals, dedicating themselves to helping
other former members. ICSA has also encouraged researchers
from various fields to study the cult phenomenon, insisting on
high standards for their contributions to ICSA publications.
And over the years, with ICSA’s support, exit counselors in our
network have professionalized themselves by examining and
improving their methods of intervention and by paying close
attention to ethical issues in interventions. Actually—and this
is another important change—the need for such interventions
has apparently declined due to the improved communications
skills those outside of the cult have developed with their cult
member, thanks largely to improved advice and resources
from ICSA. And more cult members appear to “walk away” from
cults themselves, partly due, I believe, to availability of online
information about the outside world and negative information
about their group.
In addition, preventive education and general educational
materials about cults, and access to those resources, have
changed. I was hired in 1988 to provide programs to schools
and universities. As founder and Director of the International
Cult Education Program (ICEP), I wrote and produced three
educational videotapes, devised a lesson plan for middle-
and high-school students, did outreach to young people
and college campuses, and appeared on many prominent
national radio and television shows. I also networked with
organizations such as the campus security guards and high-
school and university counselors, sometimes traveling great
distances at great expense to present at their conferences. But
as time passed, there was no longer a need for me or anyone
else to go into a classroom of 30 high-school or church-group
students, or to travel and spend ICSA’s money to speak to other
small groups. The information we had been transmitting that
way with great difficulty was now quickly and easily available
online. Utilizing the expansion of the Internet and other social
networks, ICSA has tailored its ability to provide rapid personal
assistance and provide helpful information and advice via
its online resources, accessible through its excellent website.
These advances have been aided by a growing volume of
books, personal accounts from former members and published
professional research and analyses that we can publicize easily
and distribute widely.
Over these 40 years, ICSA has cultivated scholars in Europe and
the Far East, and our movement expanded into a worldwide
network. This expansion is one reason the name was changed
from American Family Foundation to International Cultic Studies
Association.
Another important change, due primarily to the wisdom
and foresight of AFF/ICSA president Herbert L. Rosedale and
executive director Michael Langone, is the transformation of
our relationships with cultic groups. Because Herb welcomed
cult members sent to harass us at our conferences and urged
them to leave the hotel lobby and actually attend sessions
…one of the most important changes
I have observed is the composition of
cult membership: Now about half the
former members entering our network
were born or raised in groups. Entire
families—including adults … are
involved…
At the ICSA conference in Philadelphia in July 2018, I was
amazed as I contemplated the changes I have seen in
my nearly forty years of involvement with the countercult
movement and with AFF/ICSA.
When my husband, Rabbi A. James Rudin, and I published
the first general book about cults, Prison or Paradise? The New
Religious Cults, in 1980, the movement was in its infancy. A
smattering of concerned parents throughout the country
was just organizing what became the original Cult Awareness
Network (CAN). I don’t remember how we connected with the
new American Family Foundation (AFF). Perhaps someone heard
about Prison or Paradise?... and contacted us. Or somehow we
heard about Dr. John G. Clark, a psychiatrist in the Boston area
who was exploring the topic of mind manipulation, and we
contacted him. Jim and I attended the second AFF Advisory
Board meeting in 1982. We went to the office in Boston and
from there were driven to a Catholic retreat center in Weston,
the actual meeting location kept secret from attendees because
the previous year the Unification Church had found out about
the meeting and had invaded it, and snapped and published
unflattering photos.
Early AFF Advisory Board Meetings consisted of about thirty to
forty people reporting on their individual, cult-related activities.
Over time, these small meetings of invitees transitioned into
conferences at other retreat centers that included workshops
for former members and loved ones, and then turned into
large annual conferences held every other year in Europe, and
multiple workshops throughout the country for former members
and affected loved ones.
In those early days, cult members were affluent, college-aged
youngsters recruited off campuses or other young people
in periods of transition in their lives (at least this is what we
thought). The recruits seemed to be primarily white. The “loved
ones” trying to rescue them were parents who, in order to
get them out of groups, needed to be able to afford to pay
for intervention specialists, or what in those days were called
Changes
I Have Seen
in the
40 Years
of AFF/ICSA
By Marcia R. Rudin
When my husband, Rabbi A. James
Rudin, and I published the first general
book about cults, Prison or Paradise?
The New Religious Cults, in 1980, the
movement was in its infancy.
deprogrammers, which term at the time encompassed voluntary
and involuntary (i.e., dependent upon an abduction). Later, the
term exit counseling replaced voluntary deprogramming since, in
popular usage, deprogramming implied abduction. So even if
there were less affluent people and minorities affected by cults,
we didn’t know about them because they probably couldn’t
afford to get the necessary help, even if they knew how to
obtain it.
Yes, in those years, few knew how to get the help they needed.
Pre-Internet, if one was fortunate enough to find out about
us, it was probably via radio or television programs. One
woman told me she was listening to a radio program in her
automobile and pulled over to the side of the road to jot
down our telephone number on a scrap of paper! And the
contact had to be via telephone or snail mail. At some point
while I was on staff, I volunteered to answer the telephone—a
decision I would later regret so I received calls all day from
desperate families and loved ones. This stressful activity (I was
not trained, as a professional social worker would have been, to
distance myself) caused me to resign after 10 years, unable to
emotionally deal with the terrible stories I heard constantly.
Fortunately, at the same time I resigned in 1998, the new
Internet was expanding. Soon people didn’t need to telephone
or write us. By simply typing key words, they could easily access
information and advice.
Over these 40 years, one of the most important changes I
have observed is the composition of cult membership: Now
about half the former members entering our network were
born or raised in groups. Entire families—including adults
(not necessarily elderly) and children born into and raised
in groups—are involved, making the process of leaving and
adjusting to the outside world much more difficult. In response
to these changes, ICSA over time has adjusted its assistance
offerings to aid these families and those born and raised in
groups, not just young people who may have been in a group
for only a few years. Many ICSA workshops and conference
sessions are restricted to the “born or raised,” who experience
unique problems of recovery numerous written and
audiovisual resources also are aimed at these former members.
Throughout these years, ICSA has professionalized the help
former members and loved ones receive. In the early days
of the movement, parents of members, untrained former
members, or perhaps well-intentioned but untrained (in
this field) clergy and mental-health professionals provided
assistance. Sometimes more harm than good was done. One
of ICSA’s abiding goals has been to professionalize the general
countercult network. Many former members have become
mental health professionals, dedicating themselves to helping
other former members. ICSA has also encouraged researchers
from various fields to study the cult phenomenon, insisting on
high standards for their contributions to ICSA publications.
And over the years, with ICSA’s support, exit counselors in our
network have professionalized themselves by examining and
improving their methods of intervention and by paying close
attention to ethical issues in interventions. Actually—and this
is another important change—the need for such interventions
has apparently declined due to the improved communications
skills those outside of the cult have developed with their cult
member, thanks largely to improved advice and resources
from ICSA. And more cult members appear to “walk away” from
cults themselves, partly due, I believe, to availability of online
information about the outside world and negative information
about their group.
In addition, preventive education and general educational
materials about cults, and access to those resources, have
changed. I was hired in 1988 to provide programs to schools
and universities. As founder and Director of the International
Cult Education Program (ICEP), I wrote and produced three
educational videotapes, devised a lesson plan for middle-
and high-school students, did outreach to young people
and college campuses, and appeared on many prominent
national radio and television shows. I also networked with
organizations such as the campus security guards and high-
school and university counselors, sometimes traveling great
distances at great expense to present at their conferences. But
as time passed, there was no longer a need for me or anyone
else to go into a classroom of 30 high-school or church-group
students, or to travel and spend ICSA’s money to speak to other
small groups. The information we had been transmitting that
way with great difficulty was now quickly and easily available
online. Utilizing the expansion of the Internet and other social
networks, ICSA has tailored its ability to provide rapid personal
assistance and provide helpful information and advice via
its online resources, accessible through its excellent website.
These advances have been aided by a growing volume of
books, personal accounts from former members and published
professional research and analyses that we can publicize easily
and distribute widely.
Over these 40 years, ICSA has cultivated scholars in Europe and
the Far East, and our movement expanded into a worldwide
network. This expansion is one reason the name was changed
from American Family Foundation to International Cultic Studies
Association.
Another important change, due primarily to the wisdom
and foresight of AFF/ICSA president Herbert L. Rosedale and
executive director Michael Langone, is the transformation of
our relationships with cultic groups. Because Herb welcomed
cult members sent to harass us at our conferences and urged
them to leave the hotel lobby and actually attend sessions
…one of the most important changes
I have observed is the composition of
cult membership: Now about half the
former members entering our network
were born or raised in groups. Entire
families—including adults … are
involved…
At the ICSA conference in Philadelphia in July 2018, I was
amazed as I contemplated the changes I have seen in
my nearly forty years of involvement with the countercult
movement and with AFF/ICSA.
When my husband, Rabbi A. James Rudin, and I published
the first general book about cults, Prison or Paradise? The New
Religious Cults, in 1980, the movement was in its infancy. A
smattering of concerned parents throughout the country
was just organizing what became the original Cult Awareness
Network (CAN). I don’t remember how we connected with the
new American Family Foundation (AFF). Perhaps someone heard
about Prison or Paradise?... and contacted us. Or somehow we
heard about Dr. John G. Clark, a psychiatrist in the Boston area
who was exploring the topic of mind manipulation, and we
contacted him. Jim and I attended the second AFF Advisory
Board meeting in 1982. We went to the office in Boston and
from there were driven to a Catholic retreat center in Weston,
the actual meeting location kept secret from attendees because
the previous year the Unification Church had found out about
the meeting and had invaded it, and snapped and published
unflattering photos.
Early AFF Advisory Board Meetings consisted of about thirty to
forty people reporting on their individual, cult-related activities.
Over time, these small meetings of invitees transitioned into
conferences at other retreat centers that included workshops
for former members and loved ones, and then turned into
large annual conferences held every other year in Europe, and
multiple workshops throughout the country for former members
and affected loved ones.
In those early days, cult members were affluent, college-aged
youngsters recruited off campuses or other young people
in periods of transition in their lives (at least this is what we
thought). The recruits seemed to be primarily white. The “loved
ones” trying to rescue them were parents who, in order to
get them out of groups, needed to be able to afford to pay
for intervention specialists, or what in those days were called
Changes
I Have Seen
in the
40 Years
of AFF/ICSA
By Marcia R. Rudin
When my husband, Rabbi A. James
Rudin, and I published the first general
book about cults, Prison or Paradise?
The New Religious Cults, in 1980, the
movement was in its infancy.
