Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: 2011 Edition. Pamela J.D. Dewey
the whole world instantly through television, short wave radio, and the Internet. Men with serious character flaws that would have been painfully obvious up close in the past can now fool their followers into believing that they are spiritual giants. They can conduct international ministries through the electronic media, which keeps them isolated from face-to-face interaction with most of their supporters.
Thus a rapidly growing number of teachers and groups can be found attracting and retaining supporters through deception, coercion, and scripture twisting. Many of these use mental, emotional, and spiritual abuse. Some even use physical abuse. These groups range from small home fellowships to multi-congregational denominations with thousands, tens of thousands, or even more members. Some, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, have been around a long time, but are now able to grow more quickly and affect more people than ever before. Some started just last year, last month, or last week, and are able to grow quickly and affect significant numbers of people in a very short time.
Most people are absolutely sure that they could never become attracted to a “cult” or be deceived by a false teacher. They assume that only emotionally disturbed or very naïve and ignorant people could possibly fall for strange beliefs and weird practices at the edges of Christianity. But close examination of some of these very abusive and deceptive groups indicate that just common, average people by the millions are indeed capable of being misled down some very dark paths.
The following chapters offer some guidelines on how to evaluate your involvement, or the involvement of friends and family members, in religious groups. You may be surprised to find that religious deception might be closer to home than you have thought.
Chapter 6
The True Believer Revisited: Characteristics of Potentially Harmful Religious Groups
Personal from the author
Some time in the late 1960s, my husband George and I both read the popular book by Eric Hoffer, The True Believer. Hoffer had done an extensive study on the methods used by mass movements to make and keep converts. His book shared his conclusion that most of them, both secular and religious, use many of the same tactics.
George and I were both amazed at the wealth of insight and wisdom flowing from the pen of this self-taught former longshoreman. He made it clear just what in the psyche of the potential Communist Party Member, or the potential religious cult member, led them to get involved, and stay involved, with groups which most thinking folks would see right away were dangerous or outlandish at worst, and unreasonable and controlling at best. He seemed able to spot much of the foolishness out there in the marketplace of ideas, and label it for what it was. Except, of course, for the one marketplace idea near and dear to our own hearts. Although the religious group we had become involved with as young university students sure seemed to have many of the questionable characteristics that he brought out in the book, we figured that we were the exception that proved the rule.
Time went by. In 1974, I returned to Michigan State University to do some graduate work in the fields of education, social science, and psychology. In my “Social Psychology of Social Movements” class I met Hoffer’s writings once again. They were joined by another classic in the field of Social Psychology, When Prophecy Fails. This book explored the history of groups that had predicted/prophesied “the End” to come in their own time in history, and how the members responded when the prophecy failed. (For details on the conclusions in that book, see the When Prophecy Fails chapter of this Field Guide.) I shared the book’s information with George. Once again we were both amazed how closely the facts in the book lined up with our real-world experiences with the group we belonged to. Indeed, a date had been set by the leader of our group related to the events of the End Times, and that date had come and gone with no fulfillment. And the reactions of most in the group, including us, had been exactly what the book said they would be. So did we apply the rest of the author’s evaluation and commentary to our own experiences?
Of course not. Because, you see, the groups covered in the book were all false movements and churches. We, on the other hand, were absolutely sure that we were members of the “Only True Church of God on Earth Today.” Once again, we were, in our own minds, the exception that proves the rule!
Proving the Exception
It was many years after the incidents described above before we were able fully to face our own folly … and realize we had merely avoided making some hard, painful judgments. (For more details on our personal spiritual journey, see the Afterword chapter of this Field Guide.)
We realize now that there really are some solid signs that a religious group or teacher is attracting and keeping followers through humanly coercive methods, rather than through biblical methods blessed by God, and through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. If a few, some, many, or all of the factors below seem to apply to a group you are involved with, or considering involvement with, you can save yourself a lot of grief by facing reality and taking steps to get free now. If you choose, as we did, to remain in irrational denial, you may find some day that you wasted much of your life in bondage to mere men rather than in true service to God.
Signs of trouble
Does the group or leader:
•Demand the exclusive loyalty of followers?
•Condemn any serious questioning of the integrity of the leadership, even if followers have access to strong evidence of irregularities in matters of finance, morals, or ethics?
•Condemn any serious questioning of the policies or tactics of the leadership, even when such policies or tactics have been clearly shown to lead to emotional, mental, spiritual, or perhaps even physical suffering of followers?
•Forbid anyone with even minor questions or concerns about the leadership from expressing them to others in the group?
•Insist any questioning of the leadership is tantamount to questioning God, and is an affront to Him personally?
•Twist scriptures regarding authority, particularly in the Old Testament (e.g., “the rebellion of Korah”), to make it appear that there is a direct correlation to contemporary circumstances, and that God’s wrath will be felt once again by those who reject authority within the group?
•Make grandiose claims to such biblical roles as prophet or apostle, with nothing more than self-aggrandizement to establish the validity of such claims?
•Make grandiose, unsubstantiated claims to have “restored truths lost to the world for 1900 years”?
•Insist that the average person is unable to understand the Bible through independent study, but instead should rely entirely on the interpretations and explanations of the leader or group?
•Make extremely excessive demands on the time and financial resources of followers, to the point of physical or financial exhaustion?
•Insist or strongly imply that there is a direct correlation between financial contributions to the group and God’s blessings and protection on the donor?
•Threaten that God will withhold blessings from—or perhaps even inflict His wrath upon—those who resist the leader’s or group’s demand for sacrificial giving beyond even the “prescribed” amount (such as the tithe)?
•Forbid or strongly discourage followers from reading or listening to material produced by any outside source?
•Encourage or demand that followers seriously reduce, or cut off entirely, relationships with family members outside the group?
•Discourage or forbid the development of relationships with friends who are not part of the group?
•Make decisions to expel members through a secret process not open to the observation of the average member?
•Encourage or demand that followers cut off all contact with former group members, even though such ex-members have not been found guilty of, or even