Unfortunately, the media tend to focus on a cult's wacky beliefs instead of their coercive techniques.  Stories typically do not delve into how intelligent people are indoctrinated.  In the Spring of 2012, I was asked to speak to a class at Harvard's History of Science class on the "the History of Brainwashing" taught by Rebecca Lemov, and when I told the class I got interested in this subject due to my own involvement with "the Moonies" most people had no idea what I was talking about.  Few knew about major cult stories that people of my generation all take for granted.  This is very worrisome."

Coercive persuasion is often used in gaining and keeping recruit in politically active Religious Right groups beyond the empire of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.  We see cult practices at work in both Catholic and evangelical entities as well.  My purpose in this post is not to delve deeply into the details of issues related to cults or to enumerate which groups use them.  Rather, I want to surface this as an area of knowledge in which many of us, certainly myself, are deficient, even as the cultic aspects of politically oriented cults are serious.  The zealotry we often see, is often less because of belief in particular doctrines so much as cultic control by leadership.

These things said, just because a group is religious and politically conservative, does not make them a cult. I do not believe that and I know that Steve does not either. He offers rigorous, scientifically founded characteristics cults.  He also points out that cults are not limited to religious groups or to conservatism. There are business, political and psychotherapy cults as well.  Indeed, anti-democratic cultic influences can disrupt the normal functioning of well established organizations, as Marshall Ganz ruefully revealed about the way the therapy cult Synanon essentially took over and largely destroyed United Farm Workers.

While his whole book is about the characteristics of cults and what people can do to help friends and loved ones come out from the totalist control of such groups, the short definition of a cult, he writes is: "an authoritarian group headed by a person or persons with near complete control."  He also discusses how groups use specific techniques to gain influence and control over people. Broadly speaking, he says this is accomplished by what he calls "destructive mind control."  

Cult influence is designed to disrupt a person's authentic identity and replace it with a new identity.  By immersing people in a tightly controlled, high-pressure social environment, destructive cults gain control of members' behavior, thoughts, and emotions.  They limit their access to outside information.  They literally take control of their minds.

Steve adds:  

I have a high regard for religious freedom. Everyone has the right to believe, and the right not to believe, whatever they choose.  As a member of the Jewish faith, I believe in a God that values the freedom to control our own lives.  As a matter of principle, I am opposed to censorship or banning any group.  I also believe that no legitimate group should fear an honest critique of its practices. In general, I believe that the best way to prevent abuse is to educate and warn people about possible dangers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants freedom of religion as it pertains to belief. However the Constitution does not grant the right to engage in behavior that violates other people's rights or the laws of the land, even if there is a claim of religious motivation.

And this is where the rubber meets the road in a democratic society. We have to respect one another's rights to believe what we will without undue interference from the government or powerful religious institutions. To this we can add predatory groups and individuals who seek to violate our freedom of mind to accomplish their own ends. There is a vast difference between community and coercion, and it us up to all of us to know the difference.  Because if we don't, the consequences of our ignorance can be profound.