Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: 2011 Edition. Pamela J.D. Dewey
of those factors of the group’s activities that give evidence of such potential danger.
Religious Cult-Watch Websites
Many Internet websites that specialize in profiling and documenting the teachings and activities of various religious groups and teachers are created by those who have a particular religious doctrinal stance they wish to defend. They may define any group that deviates from the very narrow doctrinal “orthodoxy” to which they subscribe as a cult. Thus, the doctrinal teachings of such groups may receive a very thorough profiling on most religious cult-watch websites.
Ex-Member Cult-Watch Websites
Once an individual or a group of individuals manage to extricate themselves from involvement in a religious group that they are convinced held them in some sort of spiritual bondage, they may feel called to warn others to avoid the group. They may desire to reach out to those who are still in the group, and attempt to help them also “see the light.” In most cases, their primary focus is not so much on the error of the doctrines of the group that they left, but the methods used by the leadership of the group to keep them deceived. Thus, the material on most ex-member cult watch websites may emphasize historical documentation on the abuses of power exercised by the founder and/or later leaders of the groups, and incidents of deception used to mislead members.
Christian Apologetics Cult-Watch Websites
Apologetics: “A branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity.” (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)
While many religious cult-watch sites, as mentioned above, define a cult as any group which deviates from their own narrow doctrinal perspective, some Christian Apologetics sites take a broader view. While allowing for wide doctrinal variance across denominational lines, they start with the assumption that there is a minimum standard of “historical orthodoxy” to which a teacher or group needs to adhere in order to be accepted as authentically Christian. Any group which deviates from this standard may be considered a cult. Thus, much of the material on such Christian Apologetics cult-watch websites is devoted to comparing the doctrines of questionable teachers and groups to their particular broad definition of historical orthodoxy.
“Spiritual Abuse” Cult-Watch Websites
“Spiritual abuse is the misuse of a position of power, leadership, or influence to further the selfish interests of someone other than the individual who needs help. Sometimes abuse arises out of a doctrinal position. At other times it occurs because of legitimate personal needs of a leader that are being met by illegitimate means. Spiritually abusive religious systems are sometimes described as legalistic, mind controlling, religiously addictive, and authoritarian. The most distinctive characteristic of a spiritually abusive religious system, or leader, is the over-emphasis on authority. Because a group claims to have been established by God Himself the leaders in this system claim the right to command their followers.” (www.watchman.org/profile/abusepro.htm)
An increasing number of websites, as well as books available in Christian and secular book stores, have brought to the attention of the public the reality that abuse within some religious groups is not limited to just physical matters. When a leader or group uses claimed “authority from God” to harm the mental, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing of participants, the result is spiritual abuse. This can be just as dangerous and debilitating as physical abuse. Thus, much of the content on spiritual abuse cult-watch websites may be devoted to documentation of those factors in the teachings and methods of the groups and teachers under consideration which may contribute to the potential for spiritual abuse.
Another Perspective
All of these types of websites have merit. The reader will likely find sites from each variety helpful. Even if one does not agree with the website authors’ ultimate subjective evaluation of the teachers and groups that they profile, most include accurate documentation from which one can glean useful information.
The Field Guide website and this Field Guide book take a different point of view from all of the above. As the author, I am concerned about:
•Any religious organization, any leaders of such religious organizations, and any religious teachers that in any way insert themselves, their system, or their teachings between the individual believer and that believer’s immediate access to God—and to the simple truths of the scriptures.
•Any religious teaching which subverts the basics of simple faith in the teachings of Jesus as seen in the Sermon on the Mount—and turns faith and salvation and the daily Christian walk into a complex, convoluted process, through twisting of scripture, or through requiring or encouraging extra-biblical and unbiblical gimmicks and standards.
•Any teacher or religious group that distorts the simple truths of scripture to use for an illegitimate or evil purpose—whether it be to validate their own warped views such as rabid racism, to justify oppression of one group of people over another, to excuse their own sinful actions, or any other reason.
•Any teacher or religious group that would, subtly or openly, strip from the individual believer his right and ability to think and act for himself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
See the Web Resources and Books for Further Research chapter for recommendations of a variety of resources to aid in evaluating the potential for spiritual harm of various groups.
A Closer Look
The technological and social factors that have led to so many changes in modern America have given rise to several troubling trends in the Wild World of Religion. The next chapter will take a closer look at some of these.
Chapter 5
Troubling Trends
The technological and cultural changes of the past several decades have transformed the face of the religious landscape of the USA in many ways that may not be obvious to those who have not studied the topic. The content of this Field Guide brings into focus, as through binoculars, various inhabitants of the increasingly Wild World of Religion. The purpose for this is two-fold:
1.To provide a reference work that gives an overview and documentation on a collection of ideas, individuals, and groups representative of a variety of significant modern American religious movements.
2.To share some of the concerns of the author about some disturbing trends which now affect large numbers of people. It is impossible to cover every individual, group, and movement that has had an impact on people. Those included in this volume are a sample of some of the most influential people and fastest-growing groups.
Trend One: Religious Homogenization
An individual in the 1950s who had no religious background, and who wanted to find out first-hand about Christianity, would have had to do a lot of footwork, visiting the various churches in his community. If he chose, on subsequent Sundays, to visit a Roman Catholic Church, followed by a Lutheran, a Congregational, a Baptist, and a Pentecostal, he would come away with a feeling of diversity. There would be a diversity of style, from ceremonial, to formal, to informal. Each setting would have a unique vocabulary that would include different buzzwords, from “extreme unction” to being “filled with the Holy Ghost.” There would be a varying emphasis in the content of the sermons. Some preachers would sound more like college lecturers, some would sound like inspirational motivational speakers, and some would thunder in harsh exhortations and threats. There would be a diversity of musical styles from ancient to modern, and from magnificent classical pipe organ performances to piano-playing that might sound at home in a honky-tonk bar. If the visitor was listening carefully, he would note a variety of doctrines being espoused, doctrines which were so divisive