Texarkana Gazette
March 11, 2018
By Gazette Staff
Chronicling a Cult
Author who wrote about Tony Alamo’s influence will sign books on April 23
The city of Fouke, Ark., will host a book signing next month for author and human rights activist Debby Schriver’s recently published book about cult leader Tony Alamo.
OPEN MINDS FOUNDATION
Editorial Staff
The Top 11 Myths Used to Justify Abusive Groups
People use many justifications to explain why a group is not a cult. Most are ingrained misconceptions about the term ‘cult’. If we learn to recognize these myths, we can stop public excuses for abusive groups, and strip away the groups’ own camouflage. It is just as important for us to know what doesn’t make a group not a cult as it is to know what does.
ICSA
Leona Furnari, L.C.S.W.
BORN OR RAISED IN CLOSED, HIGH-DEMAND GROUPS: DEVELOPMENTAL SITUATIONS Leona Furnari, L.C.S.W.
An increasing number of individuals are entering mainstream society who were born and/or raised in cults or closed, high-demand groups. In my work as a mental health professional specializing in trauma and recovery from spiritual abuse, I regularly encounter these individuals.
ICSA
Arnold Markowitz, C.S.W. and David A. Halperin, M.D.
CULTS AND CHILDREN: THE ABUSE OF THE YOUNG
Cults and Children: The Abuse of the Young
Arnold Markowitz, C.S.W. and David A. Halperin, M.D.
International Cultic Studies Association
Children and Cults
Excerpt from Recovery From Cults Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse.
W. W. Norton, New York, 1993, 410 pages, hard cover.
Michael Langone, Gary Eisenberg
Santa Clarita Gazette
May 18, 2017
Linda Pedersen
Now and Then: Fleeting Memories of the Alamo Foundation
Good and evil. Black and white. Those contrasts ran through my mind while reading about the recent death of infamous cult leader Tony Alamo. Tony, his wife Susan, and a disparate collection of lost souls inhabited the SCV for a few brief years in the early ‘70s, adding a bit of colorful perplexity to our sage brush-covered canyons. The evangelical couple reigned over a cadre of young homeless people “rescued” from drug-infested streets in Los Angeles. They established a headquarters north of the Soledad Canyon/Sierra Highway junction that professed to grant salvation through hard work and strict religious practices.
ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association
Leona Furnari, L.C.S.W.
ICSA e-Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2005
Born or Raised in Closed, High-Demand Groups: Developmental Considerations
An increasing number of individuals are entering mainstream society who were born and/or raised in cults or closed, high-demand groups. In my work as a mental health professional specializing in trauma and recovery from spiritual abuse, I regularly encounter these individuals.
Psychcentral.com
May 15, 2015
By Christine Hammond
15 Narcissistic Religious Abuse Practices
If you suspect religious abuse, ask your clients this: is spiritual perfectionism demanded? Are you terrified of not being accepted? Does the narcissist in your life have crazily ridiculous implausible spiritual expectations?
The Sydney Morning Herald
July 15, 2009
Jimmy Carter
Losing my Religion for Equality
Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.
Criminal Justice Degrees Guide
The line between religions and cults can be a blurry one at times. Although some prefer to distinguish between cults and religions, there are some indisputable similarities. For example, both sometimes encourage donations from their followers and promote the sacrifice of food and other luxuries in the name of ritual observances. However, cults significantly differ in their belief systems, rituals and indoctrination. A religion that uses mind control techniques, deception and exploitation to teach its followers has strayed further away from a religion and is much closer to a cult. Here are 9 ways groups become cults:
Defeating the Dragons
Posted on September 11, 2013 by forgedimagination
15 things not to say to a recovering fundamentalist
There have been plenty of things I’ve heard since I started talking about Christian fundamentalism, and most of them make me want to tear my hair out. So, I put out a general call for some of the gems you have heard, and here’s a few that I got back.
ICSA
by Gary M.
Getting Involved in a Cult Is Easy; Getting Out Never Is
For 29 years, I was associated with a Bible-based group with what I now know are the dynamics of a cult.[1] Most of the pastors from a variety of backgrounds whom I sought out soon afterward didn’t understand what it meant to leave a cult, or what my needs were.
NaturalNews.com
Friday, June 08, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036112_sociopaths_cults_influence.html#ixzz2MPIHVuDY
Click here to view this article and other articles from spiritualabuse.org
They Told Me If I Left …
by Ron Henzel
One of the most insidious features of Spiritual Abuse is the state of terror in which it leaves so many of its victims.
Thoughts for 2012 for Former Members
“It Hurts”
By Jan Groenveld
IT HURTS to discover you were deceived – that what you thought was the “one true religion,” the “path to total freedom,” or “truth” was in reality a cult.
IT HURTS when you learn that people you trusted implicitly – whom you were taught not to question – were “pulling the wool over your eyes” albeit unwittingly.
Choosing a Church After a Painful Experience
by
Lawrence A. Pile
Twenty years ago I left what had been a warm, exciting Christian fellowship, but which had become an authoritarian, restrictive organization. I reached this difficult decision after months of wrenching deliberation and several talks with the group’s leaders about my concerns at the direction the fellowship was taking. I had joined the movement 5½ years earlier in another city, had served as one of four leaders of a church-planting team that brought the movement to Columbus, Ohio, and had led Bible studies and held other positions of responsibility in the church. I literally had expected to remain with the movement the rest of my life. To see it degenerate was, to say the least, a disillusioning experience.
I found myself saying good-bye to men and women I had considered my brothers and sisters. I felt like a part of my soul was being cut out of me. What was I going to do now? I had developed no contingency plans to fall back on in such an unforeseen situation.
There has been much confusion about cults and how to ‘pickem’.
Some have difficulty identifying a cult because it is not so
easy to identify one that is not even religious. For this
reason, over the years, different definitions of what actually
is a cult have developed to make it easier when you know
little about their beliefs.
The different definitions:
SECULAR DEFINITION
December 2006
Hal Mansfield, M.A.
Director, Rocky Mountain Resource Center on Violent, Destructive, and Hate Groups
“In this article, I want to explore the nature of critical thinking in the role of recovery for ex-members of destructive groups. Former members face many difficult changes in the recovery process including anger, intimacy, and how to just get along in life, to mention just a few. I want to focus on critical thinking for the purpose of clarifying the role it plays in recovery and try to clear up misunderstandings of what we mean by critical thinking.
To start, let’s look at what critical thinking is. There are many popular ideas about it. I have heard everything from defining critical thinking as a measuring stick to reality, and to a more base definition as a crap detector. Both of those have some validity, but I prefer to use the definition from the Dictionary of Psychology by Arthur Reber. The dictionary defines critical thinking as a cognitive strategy consisting largely of continual checking and testing of possible solutions to guide ones work. Another way to look at it is to test existing ideas and solutions for flaws and errors. Looking at this definition, destructive groups block critical thinking.
by Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.
It is common practice for church goers in American society to refer to their own congregation as their “church family.” Students away at college make reference to their “home church.” Church people sing hymns about being part of “the family of God.” Parents often employ family imagery to convey spiritual content to their children.
As behavioral scientists remind us all too often, that most basic of social institutions—the family—is increasingly subject to frailty and failure. The label that is currently popular for unhealthy families is “dysfunctional.” Unfortunately, sociologists of religion (as well as many ex-members) know that some churches are also dysfunctional, even to the point of being spiritually abusive. If truth in advertising standards could be applied to religion, some churches would be required to display a sign reading: “Warning: this church could be harmful to your spiritual and psychological health.”
