From the forthcoming book Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias" NEW TITLE of Captive Hearts Captive Minds
Chapter 1
Cults and Cultic Relationships .
What we are going to look at this week is the whole issue of what makes a cult a cult. So many of us have been affected by the WTS' control over our lives. I remember reading the article the WTS published saying they weren't a cult. Like most of their arguments, I believed it at the time. But since then I have realized their their argument is full of holes.
I think it is hard to acknowledge the full impact that the WTS had over our lives. One of the things I cherish is control over my life. Accepting how little control I had was an important step to making sure I never get into another situation like this, whether in a group or in a relationship with one person. In my case the "other person" was parents, friends and husbands and of course the WTS. I don't ever want to go down this road again so I better learn something about this experience.
People don't usually know much about cults. The last thing they think is that they are joining one.
Even those who have been in for a long time would deny that their group was a cult. The book Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships the authors express the need for education about cults. They state:
Many former members read just about everything they can get their hands on about cults. (p. 12)
So many posters here have become more avid students of the WTS now than we ever were while we were in. I used to hate studying. Now I can't get enough. Some of the basic things we need to know will be covered in the material from the first chapter of the book. According to the authors a cult is:
Cult: A group or movement exhibing great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, ot thing, and employing unethical manipulative or coercive techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgement, promotion or total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it), designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders, and to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community. (p. 12)
I don't know about you but I see the WTS all over that. I can't say there is one part that doesn't fit. But the authors go on to describe three characteristics that define cults.
- Members are expected to be excessively zealous and unquestioning in their commitment to the identity and leadership of the group. They must replace their own beliefs and values with those of the group.
- Members are manipulated and exploited, and may give up their education, careers, and families to work excessively long hours at group-directed tasks such as selling a quota of candy or books, fund-raising, recruiting, and proselytizing.
- Harm or the threat of harm may come to members, their families, and/or society due to inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, psychological and physical abuse, sleep deprivation, criminal activities, and so forth. (p. 13)
JWs are told to be more zealous. And most JWs get the message as soon as they are baptized that questionning the WTS is the equivalent of questionning God Himself. One of the questions the elders now ask is "Do you still believe the WTS is God's channel?" or words to that effect. Despite that the WTS says they are not perfect they still insist JWs accept every word they print and say.
I remember all those talks to do more and the finger pointing that we weren't doing enough. And no matter how much you did it was never enough. I remember the magazines and talks that told us not to "jump ahead" and "wait on Jehovah." If you had any dreams for a future you were always reminded that the end was coming so don't bother with a career. I wanted to be a counselor and remember being told that in the new system there would be no use for counselors, or doctors, or dentists and so on. We would all be perfect and not need these things.
When I got pregnant for my first child my mother told me that I was crazy for getting pregnant because if the end came I would have to run to the mountains to hide carrying a young child with me. (This was pre-75 and my baby would be 3 by 1975). So in spite of being already pregnant she thought I should be out pioneering.
Something I really hated was keeping the kids up on those late night meeting nights. Once my husband was an elder it was rare for us to get home much before 11 pm. Then you had to fight with them to get them up in the morning and somehow get the homework done. I felt like I was raising the girls alone. He was at work during the day and on service every night there wasn't meetings. And still finding ways to "do more".
I know people who put off getting some medical issues taken care of (one needed a new heart but the WTS said it was a form of cannibalism so he didn't have the surgery. And yes, he died). And I had my scare with the blood doctrine when my second child was born. When I was severely depressed and making my plan to commit suicide all I heard from my husband and the elders was to pray more, get to meetings and get out in service.
Now there's that part in point 3 regarding "criminal activities". I would have said yes even a few weeks ago. But after looking at the child custody brochure and the condensed version of the blood article I wouls have to say that this does apply. JWs are taught how to respond to legal authorities and to outright lie about the lifestyle of JW children. It is the WTS that publishes information that tells people that "worldly" courts or people do not deserve the real truth about some matters and that it is OK to lie, all in the name of "theocratic warfare".
Categories of Cults
There are so many scales and ways to look at cults and cultic groups.
The authors of the book discuss the wide variety of cults. The aspects of cults that we are focussed on is the bahvior rather than the beliefs. So it doesn't really matter what they teach. How they do it is the problem. The authors make note of a wide range of groups they would consider to be cults. Not all of the groups would use the same behavior controls.
- Eastern meditation
- Religious
- Political, racist, terrorist
- Psychotherapy/human potential (mass transformational)
- Commercial
- New Age
- Occult, satanic, black magic
- One-on-one
- Miscellaneous, or cult of personality
As you can see from the list there is a wide variety of groups that fall into the category of "cult" because of their behaviors. I'm not going to go into a description of each one. Under religious it says:
Religious: marked by belief in salvation, afterlife, sometimes combined with an apocalyptic view. The leader reinterprets the Scriptures and often claims to be a prophet if not the messiah. Often the group is strict, sometimes using physical punishments such as paddling and birching, especially on children. Members are encouraged to spend a great deal of time proselytizing. (Note: included here are Bible-based neo-Christian and other religious cults, many considered syncretic since they combine beliefs and practices). Techniques used: speaking in tongues, chanting, praying, isolation, lengthy study sessions, amny hours spent evangelizing, "struggle" or criticism) and confession sessions. (p.15)
I see a lot of the WTS in this. Do you?
The book goes on to list identifying marks of a cult by the Clinical Psychologist Dr. Margaret Singer. Singer has a list of 8 criteria that identify cults.
- Cults are authoritarian in their power structure.
- Cults tend to be totalitarian in their control of the behavior of their members.
- Cults tend to have double sets of ethics [one for the leader and another for the members; one for those inside the group, another for dealing with outsiders].
- Cult leaders are self-appointed and claim to have a special mission in life.
- Cult leaders tend to be charismatic, determined, and domineering.
- Cult leaders center the veneration of members upon themselves.
- Cults appear to be innovative and exclusive.
- Cults basically have only two purposes: recruiting new members and fund-raising.
What do you see in here? Does it fit with your experience with the WTS? What doesn't fit? Do you have any examples? I know I used to think they didn't all apply to the WTS. I think differently now.