The Church of Fear by John Sweeney

The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology, John Sweeney.   London: Silvertail Books, 2013.  e-book, 290 pps.


John Sweeney is an investigative reporter.  He is the "tomato face" who lost it in front of several Scientologists during an interview.  To his credit, he rapidly admits his faults and apologizes where due.  Following outsiders around and spying on them is rather creepy.  "Creepy" is a word that Sweeney uses a lot in The Church of Fear.

The Church of Fear re-counts Sweeney's experiences with high-ranking Scientologists [N.B. but not David Miscavige] in various places.  There is a torturous anti-psychiatry exhibit, films which are too long, and a lot of history in this book.  During the course of the book itself, several of the officials which Sweeney had contact with split from Scientology.  A split means leaving behind loved ones who are still bona fide Scientologists along with leaving behind Scientology the organization itself.  Even the outs who are not out outs-- out outs are people who no longer take stock in any of the Scientology dogma; singular outs regret that the dogma of which they are still fond has gotten corrupted by bad practices throughout the years-- have had to be disconnected from friends and loved ones.  

Sweeney endorses Robert Jay Lifton's work throughout The Church of Fear.  [I also have Lifton's definitive work Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism in my possession.  It is slated for review at a future date].  Sweeney provides a framework for understanding the pull of Scientology upon its members.  It is not so easy to pack it all in and leave Scientology, particularly if one is a member of the Sea Org.

Who to believe?  On one side, there are prominent public Scientologists like Tom Cruise and Juliette Lewis.  [I never much cared for Tom Cruise as an actor.  I've been a fan of Juliette Lewis.  I like her because she can be said to be quirky.  And I like quirky].  On the other, there are some ex-Scientologists who have written very poignant memoirs.   And there are words that keep appearing.  Dead Agent, Estates Project Force, Fair Game, Xenu.  Then also, the legendary [legal word: alleged] temper of David Miscavige.  To those who are still in Sea Org, these questions must be asked: Did he ever strike you? Did he ever strike someone you know?  Is he verbally abusive? 

Xenu.  I will not fault anyone for believing in Xenu.  After all, the claims of other religions are equally fanciful.  Those other claims are somewhat embedded in American culture.  Indeed, many of us grew up with them.  A belief in Xenu is no more absurd than believing that a deity knocked up a virgin, donkeys and snakes talked, or that some deity or deities communicate directly with certain human beings.  Whether the mysticism occurs out in space or in the cargo cults of Polynesia or at the internal altars of the faithful matters not.  There is something to be said for the temporary appeal of a personal mysticism.  A sense of getting some real answers coupled with a feeling of being a deity's special snowflake can be intoxicating.  Been there some years ago.  Done that.  Got burnt out.  This mystical stuff is hard work-- a definite downside to it.  At any rate, I maintain that belief in a space opera sort of gospel is no more odd than belief in the tenets of any mainstream religion. 

Sweeney's book points up some differences between the influence of Scientology in England versus its' influence in the United States.  In England, Scientology is not considered to be a religion by the powers that be.  In the United States, it is.  Because Scientology is considered to be a religion by the laws of this land, Scientology has a certain legal standing.    Does religious standing matter in the United States?  Most assuredly it does.  In the United States, the rights of a religious body exceeds the rights of its' detractors.  What else?  England does not have an assemblage of actors and actresses who have converted.  Scientology in Hollywood has been successful in recruiting actors and actresses for the cause.

Scientology has a bundle of lawyers and loyal adherents who have proven able to deliver more than sufficient butt-hurt to its' critics.  Ex-Scientologists, reporters, journalists, investigators, and bloggers have all suffered.  The specific and precise use of the word "creepy" in The Church of Fear is rather telling. 

Scientology does not have the monopoly on twisted tales of deviance.  Genocide committed in an African country involving in part a Roman Catholic church with members of "the wrong tribe" inside being bulldozed to death upon the direct orders of a priest.  Child brides and rape.  WWASPS.  Suicide bombers.  The refusal of a government influenced by fundamentalists to embrace stem cell research.  Not allowing AIDS organizations to tell adults in foreign countries that the use of condoms can and does prevent some percentage of HIV-related deaths.  Acting upon a belief that the life of an unborn fetus takes precedence over the life of a mother or a rape victim.  Those atrocities have been addressed in other places.  It is my sincere belief that we must force ourselves to talk about these things no matter where we find evidence of them.  The perpetrators count on our silence and our shame.  Denial of basic human rights will continue to occur within Scientology and elsewhere for as long as we cower and shrink away from these unpalatable truths. 
  
sapphoq reviews says:  The Church of Fear is useful to those who are seeking outsider information on Scientology, to folks looking to get out, to ex-Scientologists, and to students of comparative religions and/or totalitarian regimes.  Sweeney's writing is crisp-- if a tad repetitive in places-- and his history of psychiatry is succinct.  The repetitive dialogue and introspection within illustrate how even the brain of a seasoned war journalist can get twisted when Scientologists are talking.

This book continues to bear witness to certain [legal word: alleged] practices of the Church of Scientology which to us as outsiders appear to be part of a widespread culture of abuse within its' ranks.  Much safer to read this book than to actually visit any Scientology center anywhere in the world.

They are words.  They are copy-left.  If for some reason, you want this thing, clicky to save to your computer.  

 
Am I a Suppressive Person?  I am probably one of the worst sort-- I am an atheist.  My non-theistic status makes me persona non gratis in many places where believers of all kinds gather.  Not only do I prefer natural explanations to supernatural or preternatural explanations, I am also a supporter of Anonymous.  For anyone who has been living in a vacuum, Anonymous is [an idea] known for its' OpChanology protests near the Scientology Headquarters in California some years ago.  Anonymous continues to campaign against Scientology as the epitome of thought control.  [These days, some politicians and federal agencies in the United States are also doing a pretty fair imitation of thought control in my unasked for and unwanted opinion].  On the plus side, I am not in contact with any Scientologists [as far as I know] and I intend to keep it that way.      

So yeah.  The Church of Fear is highly recommended.


     If we as a race of humans are to evolve beyond a 
     need for belief in childish tales, we must create our 
     own meaning.  Because life itself is devoid of meaning.  
     We are not special snowflakes.  We are each of us 
     alone in our own skins.  Once we get with that, 
     we will perhaps be less subject to the many seductive 
     and false promises of the snake oil sales forces.   ~ sapphoq

Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life inside Scientology and my Harrowing Escape, Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer.  New York: Harper Collins Publishers/William Morrow, 2013.  e-book, 356 pps.

When I spied Beyond Belief, I immediately got on the list to buy it the first day it was available to the general public.  I've read a bunch of books on Scientology, Mormonism, gurus, and thought-blocking in connection with some extended research that I've been doing.  I was curious about this latest entry in ex-Scientologist memoirs and waited rather impatiently for the thing to load on my e-reader.

[To those who are against e-readers: I don't like the idea of them either.  The problem is that I cannot read regular printed books for any length of time due to the brain damage and resultant perception problems].

Beyond Belief started out with Jenna as an infant and toddler living an average life until her dad impulsively decided to join up with Sea Org and signed a billion year contract.  Her mother then had to join also.  Couples could not remain married if one was in and one was out.  Thus started apartments and nannies and then living and working at The Ranch for Jenna and her older brother.  Jenna included very specific information about her relationships with her family, including her uncle David Miscavige, which served to underscore the difficulties that she had in untangling herself from the Sea Org and from Scientology itself.  Although Jenna was not aware of the human rights violations carried out under her uncle's predecessor, she gradually woke up to the things that were happening under her uncle's reign.  It is to her credit that she was able to get out at all.

Jenna addressed the role of Anonymous in her awakening and specifically thanked Anonymous for picketing and getting the word out about Scientology and its' history of human rights violations.  None of the other memoirs that I read did this.  I was surprised and happy that Jenna had thought to include Anonymous in her memoir.  

I came away from Beyond Belief with a visceral sense of who Jenna Miscavige Hill is as a human being.  I was delighted to discover that she is one of the co-founders of the most excellent website http://www.exscientologykids.com/

sapphoq reviews says: Although Beyond Belief didn't detail the abusive nature of Scientology in the same manner that other memoirs did, this book is a valuable addition to the library of anyone seeking information on the subject matter.  Jenna was in a unique position as the niece of the current head of Scientology, and this position would of course reflect the differences in her experiences from those of other ex-Scientologists who also authored books.  There were some familiar names in Jenna's book.  Beyond Belief is a story of the coming of age of a sheltered Scientology kid.  Worth a read for anyone struggling with the hold of any abusive religion as well as for those who enjoy unusual memoirs about experiences that are beyond the realm of "average." Highly recommended.

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Lawrence Wright.  New York: Alfred A. Knoph/Random House, Inc., 2013.  e-book, 526 pps., incl footnotes, bibliography, index.

Twitter  @lawrencewright
website:  http://www.lawrencewright.com

I've been reading many books on cults, brain-washing, thought-stopping, betrayal of the self, Scientology, Mormonism, culture of abuse, and W.W.A.S.P.S.  I eagerly awaited the release of Going Clear in a format that I could read.  [Due to perception problems, an e-reader is a necessity for me in spite of my objections related to Intellectual Property Monopolies].  Going Clear is a fine, delightfully subversive, and powerful book.  It offers a fresh and compelling viewpoint into the mire that is Scientology.  Lawrence Wright has the luxury of being a third party.  He fills in more of the history and background to the events that ex-Scientologists referred to in their memoirs.  Wright manages to convey the human stories entwined in his tome.  He also includes the extensive objections by Scientology to each of his findings.

Going Clear does feature Tom Cruise, the actor.  But Going Clear is about far more than Tom Cruise, the recruiting of Hollywood stars and wannabe stars, and history.  This book gets into the nitty-gritty of how Scientology attracts/recruits followers.  Similar to many sales pitches, first there is the approach and then the addressing of any ambivalence or animosity on the part of the potential believer.  After that, the recruiter looks for what Scientology calls "the ruin."  The ruin is a regret or a weakness or a problem that the potential believer has not been able to fix.  Finally there is assurance that Scientology can handle it via a recommended course.  As with anything else that one wishes someone else to do, a reason why another should do one's bidding must be provided.  It must be powerful and attractive enough to overcome any resistance.

L. Ron Hubbard was no doubt a consummate salesman as well as a highly intelligent man with vision.  But the nasty stinking elephant under the rug will not disintegrate.  The courses leading up to the state of "Clear" are very expensive.  Hollywood stars can afford them.  Regular people can't.  Some of those people re-mortgage their houses or take out loans and more loans to pay for them.  Others opt to join Sea Org.  Those who join the Sea Org-- Scientology's vast clergy class who agree to work for far less than minimum wage for life but get courses and auditing included with the deal-- quickly become isolated from the rest of society.  Once in, it is difficult to leave.  Sea Org staffers are impoverished and lack privacy to make an unmonitored phone call to anyone on the outside.  With limited viable options, they stay on in spite of being sentenced to the R.P.F. and all of the other abuses.  Those who blow [leave by escaping] are tracked and brought back if possible.  Those who sign out are presented with Freeloader Bills for the courses and auditing that they have received.  The motive for paying the bills is being allowed to remain in good standing with the Church of Scientology i.e. being allowed to remain in contact with any family members within Scientology.  Those who don't pay are shunned.  If a staffer blows out or is thrown out with the label of "Subversive Person" attached, their family members are instructed not to have contact with them.  Thus, leaving for any reason becomes fraught with difficulties ranging from "How do I get out of here? and "But I love my family..." to "Where can I go?" and "What can I do for a living now?"

sapphoq reviews says:  Lawrence Wright deserves recognition and another Pulitzer Prize for writing Going Clear.  Going Clear portrays the human rights abuses that happen within Scientology.  That a religious institution does not get prosecuted for wrongful imprisonment or human rights abuses happening behind its' walls is to the shame of the laws of the United States that falsely assume that religious bodies are worthy of our trust.  They aren't.  

The similarities between Sea Org operations and W.W.A.S.P.S. facilities are ones that I could not ignore.  I understand something about the culture of abuse that [in my opinion] underpins the fabrics of both Scientology and W.W.A.S.P.S.  Both organizations teach the older ones to abuse the ones coming up behind them.  Both also use the denial of sleep, food, and basic medical care.  Neither place offers its adherents the right to investigate criticisms of their system or the right to complain to an outside authority.  W.W.A.S.P.S. schools use face down restraints and isolation rooms.  Scientology's Sea Org staffers have been known to use physical abuse as well as unlawful imprisonment in basements and boiler rooms and crowded trailers as a means of punishment.  Even though these abuses have been written about on the Internet and in books and magazine articles, Scientology continues to garner converts and W.W.A.S.P.S. enterprises [a.k.a. Teen Help and a myriad of other names] continue to have parents, judges, and a few talk show hosts send in their kids for behavioral modification via abuse.  The folks who run W.W.A.S.P.S. are Mormons in good standing with the L.D.S.  At times, I have wondered if there is a connection between W.W.A.S.P.S. and Scientology because of the rampant abuse.  W.W.A.S.P.S. tells parents that the kids will lie about stuff.  W.W.A.S.P.S. claims its detractors are troubled liars and sometimes accuses them of looking for financial gain.  Scientology claims its defectors are not the folks they used to be [before they left the religion] and therefore not to be trusted.  But the cries of "Foul!" by those who stand accused of human rights violations fall hollow.  There are too many survivors of both places to easily discount what they say.  Going Clear underlines the reasons why Anonymous organizes worldwide protests against Scientology.  But to write about Scientology thus is dangerous.  Writing about W.W.A.S.P.S. is also dangerous.  Both places know how to use take-down orders and lawsuits to their advantage.  The justice system apparently does not cultivate the understanding that any business lost to the Church of Scientology or W.W.A.S.P.S. is a direct result of exposing their [alleged] abuse of human beings.  The message in Going Clear needs to be heeded.

The epilogue points out some of the parallels between Scientology and other religions.  The fictions inherent in Scientology and in all other religions are exactly the reason why I am an atheist.  Hubbard's beliefs are no more [ir]rational than Joseph Smith's or the [un]Holy Roman Catholic Church and her Pontifex or any other religion.  We become habilitated to those things that we are surrounded by, whether it is widespread systemic abuse or legends common to the religious institutions around us.

 Going Clear is bound to appeal to readers who are admirers of the work of Robert Jay Lifton and to those who have read material written by ex-Scientologists such as Marc Headley and Jenna Miscavige Hill.  Activists involved in the fight to stop abuse-- whether it is the abuses found in the troubled teen troubled industry [of which W.W.A.S.P.S. is but one player] or any other systemic or familial abuse pattern-- ought to give Going Clear a good read.  Folks who are into the lives of celebrities ought to get their heads out of the fluffy magazines and get into some of the real issues surrounding Hollywood.  Highly recommended for thinkers and movers.
 

Blown for Good by Marc Headley

Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology, by Marc Headley.  Self-published, BFG Books Inc., at Smashwords, 823 pps. on e-reader.

 It is because of this book that I recently refused to attend a talk by an inspirational speaker that some of my TOPS [Take Off Pounds Sensibly] pals were waxing enthusiastly over.  I looked up the speaker's name on the Internet.  When I found that he listed himself as having worked "in the film industry in Hollywood" for some years, I became suspicious.  The clincher was the overflowing with happiness tone to his writing on his website.  Is he a Scientology?  I don't know.  Blown for Good informed me that Scientologists who worked for the Headquarters were told to say they worked in film if asked by outsiders what they did for a living.  I wasn't willing to take a chance that the speaker might be a sneaker stumper for Scientology who just might have worked at Golden Era Productions just as Marc Headley had.

Marc Headley grew up in a Scientology family.  His parents got divorced and remained Scientologists.  His mother's steady stream of new boyfriends were Scientologists.  Marc attended Scientology schools as a kid-- with an occasional break of public school or no school at all if his mother couldn't afford the tuition at times-- and hung out with other kids also growing up in Scientology.  After his living arrangements repeatedly fell apart, Headley signed up to work for Sea Org.  He was sixteen years old.  There were kids in Sea Org who were even younger than he was.

During his initial training in Sea Org, Headley first ran into a crew of folks who were being punished and were doing indeterminate stints on the Rehabilitation Project Force (R.P.F.).  The folks assigned to R.P.F. got the nastiest foulest jobs, went everywhere at a run, slept in separate R.P.F. "dorms," and were threatened with being assigned to the R.P.F.'s R.P.F. which was even worse.

Headley passed his training and then spent fifteen years working at Scientology Headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs, California-- also called Gold, for Golden Era Productions.  He had enough contact with Scientology's leader David Miscavige to recognize that Miscavige seemed to get pleasure out of humiliating and punishing people.  Headley even had a punching session with Miscavige in which Headley's face served as Miscavige's punching bag.

Headley had worked for Headquarters for fifteen years when he was falsely accused of embezzlement.  He was sentenced to go to R.P.F.  He decided to blow [leave].  Some folks tried to get him back and even ran his motorcycle off the road in the process.  The upshot was when Headley began to make a scene in the road, they backed off and left.  He was escorted to the town and made his break.  His wife blew shortly thereafter.

sapphoq reviews says: Blown for Good is an excellent book for anyone interested in this subject matter.  Most highly recommended.  I wish Marc Headley, his wife Claire, and his children much happiness as they walk in true freedom.

A Queer and Pleasant Danger, Kate Bornstein

A Queer and Pleasant Danger, Kate Bornstein.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2012.  247 pps on an e-reader

I first encountered Kate Bornstein via one of her other books called Gender Outlaw.  I liked it a lot and was thus pleasantly surprised to find A Queer and Pleasant Danger.  This latest book is a treasure.  Kate addresses her life in Scientology's Sea Org as a male, her transgenderism, family relationships, her ongoing bout of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (C.L.L.) and her gender identity with equal aplomb.


Kate was born in a male body and Jewish.  Kate found her way through childhood and adolescence in Jersey haphazardly.  In Denver she encountered some young Scientologists who had a message and pizza.  Being trans, Kate was sold on the idea that she was a thetan assuming a human identity.  Since thetans were also purported to be genderless, that solved Kate's gender dilemma for a bit.  She hung out at the Scientology org in Denver, took a few courses there, and then converted, went off to Sea Org where she lived on the large Scientology cruise ship, got promoted a few times and got married.  Once her first wife Molly got pregnant, they were commissioned to start an org in New York City.  The hotel where they had their offices was a dive and people kept flying past their offices on the way down to death on the sidewalk below.  The baby came and life went on that way for a couple of years.  Kate's first wife was ordered to the West Coast when their baby girl was two years old.  When their baby was four, she boarded a plane to visit with her mum [Kate's first wife] and never returned.  Mexican divorce papers came shortly after that.

Kate and wife number two found each other as both continued to work for Scientology.  Through a series of promotions, Kate found herself traveling all over.  There was a problem at a Swiss bank.  Kate was then ordered to return stateside where she faced officers from Scientology's financial police org in Clearwater Florida.  After hours upon hours on the e-meter, she was informed that she could opt for three years of hard labor or leave Scientology.  She had a neck problem by then which was painful so she chose to leave.  She was excommunicated and packed out.  Kate gave her second wife the car-- she was now considered an S.P., or suppressive person-- and went back to her childhood home with her parents.

Kate's dad who was a medical doctor promptly began treating Kate's neck problem  Kate slept a lot and after a bit got up and began to do life again.  Several months later, Kate was offered the opportunity to return to Scientology in good standing.  She was told that the financial police org was corrupt and was now a goner.  She declined and got on with life.  Kate read some decent science fiction [that is to say not any sci fi by L. Ron Hubbard which some percentage of us sci fi freaks consider to be garbage or at least substandard], got into acting, went through gender reassignment, mourned her daughter who she is not allowed to speak to, became an activist, wrote books, fell in love a few times with various women, got in touch with the idea that she prefers to be the masochist in the S & M lifestyle.  Today she identifies as a tranny rather than as male or female.  This of course irks bunches of people such as some trangenderists as well as bunches of lesbians and Pope Benedict.  Kate has decided to her credit that she is NOT inherently dangerous.

sapphoq reviews says: Anyone who does not care for reading about happy transgenderist folks probably should skip this book.  Folks who enjoyed Kate Bornstein's other books and/or who are fans of Pat Califa [that's a big yes from me on both counts] will like this different and fascinating take on life as a Scientologist and life as an ex-Scientologist.  Highly recommended.

Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman

Inside Scientology: (the Story of America's Most Secretive Religion), Janet Reitman.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.  approx. 424 pps., inc. bibliography.

Inside Scientology is a thorough history of Scientology and an introduction to many of its' key players.

sapphoq reviews says: Anyone who is reading any books written by ex-Scientologists will do well to also read this book.  Although this review is short on words, I highly recommend Inside Scientology.

My Billion Year Contract by Nancy Many

My Billion Year Contract (Memoir of a former Scientologist),
Nancy Many.  Somewhere in California: C.N.M. Publishing, 2009.  approx. 360 pps.

Prior to reading My Billion Year Contract, I knew very little about Scientology.  I'd heard that a relative of an acquaintance had mortgaged and re-mortgaged her home in order to pay for Scientology courses.  She lost that home, I'd heard.  And I knew that Scientologists do something called "auditing" with something like a lie detector in order to "clear" out junk in someone's psyche.  And I had read about Lisa McPherson's death.  I knew that there was a bunch of Scientologists living in Clearwater, Florida.  And that the guy who made it all up was a sci fi author.  [N.B.  I consider all religions to have person or persons behind them who "made it all up"]. And that the collective Anonymous stage lots of protests against Scientology because of human rights and censorship issues within the organization.  And that the higher up Scientologists have a rep for throwing lawsuits and harassment at their detractors.  But not a whole lot more than that.  I didn't know about the Sea Org or the Rehabilitation Project Force or even about the traveling ship.  My Billion Year Contract provided me quite an education along with a feel for how things were for Nancy Many when she was a Scientologist.

Nancy Many had her first known encounter with Scientologists at an Org in Boston.  Within months, she joined up with the Sea Org, signing the typical billion year contract.  She immersed herself in her work, dropping out of college.  Nancy was shuttled to orgs in California, New York, and Clearwater Florida.  She got married and got pregnant.  When she was two months pregnant, she was ordered to undergo a "voluntary" stint on the punitive Rehabilitation Project Force (R.P.F.).  Folks in R.P.F. slept on bunk beds in a crowded room in a basement, wore a dark jumpsuit, and were assigned to menial tasks like scrubbing toilet bowls.  After her son was born, she was assigned once again to R.P.F.  Only this time she and her husband both refused to sign the paperwork noting that their transfers to the R.P.F. were voluntary.  After a few days, Nancy Many and her husband departed, taking their young son with them.

Working in Sea Org is not a great way to make money.  Sea Org workers are generally paid less than fifty dollars a week.  Nancy and her husband were virtually penniless.  Family and friends helped them get on their feet after they left the Sea Org.

As a Scientology, Nancy had gone through numerous auditing sessions utilizing a quasi-lie detector known as an E-meter.  She had a psychotic-like break during one of her sessions.  In contacting other ex-Scientologists, she came to understand that there were others who had had similar breaks with reality during an auditing session.  The lack of compassion exhibited by her auditors plus the death of Lisa McPherson caused some cognitive dissonance which Nancy could no longer ignore.  Once Nancy got free of Scientology, she has helped other folks looking for their way out.

sapphoq reviews says: Nancy Many is very courageous in openly discussing what happened to her along with some of the whys.  My Billion Year Contract gave me a sense of Nancy Many as a human being.  Highly recommended to folks who are interested in controlling leaders and groups and to folks who like to read autobiographies dealing with emotions.

Freedom of Mind by Steven Hassan

Freedom of Mind: (Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs), Steven Hassan.  Newton, Mass: Freedom of Mind Press, 2012.  approx. 266 pps. inc. extensive footnotes.

N.B.  Steven Hassan has a website at
http://www.freedomofmind.com which is very much worth checking out.


At age 19, Steven Hassan was recruited into the Moonies.  After he got out, he began to help others to exit cults.  He has developed a system which does not involve kidnapping cult members and keeping them locked up in hotel rooms with one or more programmers.  He offers counseling which goes beyond "exit counseling" for former cult members who are endeavoring to live their lives free and apart from their cults.  Steven Hassan is a recognized authority regarding cults and their negative influences on their members and on the non-cult families of their members.  

I really learned a lot from this book.  I have a close friend who is currently heavily involved in a pseudo Hindu cult.  The biggest takeaway for me was to listen respectfully to her telling of her mystical experiences and to gently help her tap into her non-cult self memories when able.  Freedom of Mind taught me how to distinguish movements that rob folks of their free will from those that don't.  [N.B. Many religions are not cults].  Through the website, I was able to identify specifically which group she belongs to.


I myself in younger days narrowly avoided being sucked in by The Children of God a.k.a. The Family a.k.a. The Family International but I did spend a couple of years seesawing between drugs and fundie Jesus.  Several kids in the high school I attended were heavily involved in C.O.G.  One had taken me to a commune in a dark rambling warehouse somewhere in lower Manhattan.  She showed me some Mo letters and talked about flirty fishing.  Flirty fishing was too much for me.  I couldn't see how screwing horny businessmen for fundie Jesus was Biblical [It's not].  And I didn't buy the argument that once a businessman from a foreign country slept with a C.O.G., his soul would automatically become ripe for the picking.  Another classmate killed herself after her family had painted over the Psalm verses she had stenciled on her bedroom walls.  A third one learned Chinese in order to "disappear behind the Iron Curtain" and win souls for fundie Jesus.

In Freedom of Mind, Steven Hassan carefully reviewed the four major types of cults-- a religious cult is just one of the four types-- and the signs that a given group may have some cultish features.  He explained several varied approaches to the loved one who is involved in a cult.  Instead of "deprogramming", Hassan urged his readers to treat their family member or friend with respect and love.  Hassan suggested a series of mini-interventions which are far more casual than those popularized on television to get someone suffering from addictions to agree to go into treatment.  I was able to forgive his frequent mention of his own availability as a professional.  Folks who are worried about a loved one being under the control of a toxic leader need someone to say, "Hey there is help for this and I can help you."

sapphoq reviews says: Freedom of Mind has information and clear illustrations which make this book a valuable addition to the library of anyone who has a loved one in a cult.