1. Cults and New Religious Movements Cults and New Religious Movements Leaving New Religious Movements

2. Introduction  Many researchers have studied NRMs since the 1960s  Much has been devoted to how and why people join but not how or why they leave

3. The Ebaughs  Helen Rose and Stuart Wright Ebaugh have studied the process of exiting religious groups, including: –Catholic women –Children of God –Moonies (Unification Church) –Hare Krishnas

4. Conceptualizing Defection  Disaffection = Affective –Emotional Withdrawal –Deterioration of emotional bonds  Disillusionment = Cognitive –Disbelief, doubt –Withdrawal of moral authority of leaders  Disaffiliation = Social Organization –Severance of ties of membership

5. Methodological Issues  3 major issues impact the validity of the accounts people offer of their experience in a NRM –Retrospective reporting –Social and organizational factors influencing reconstruction –Temporal variability of accounts

6. Methodological Issues, Continued  Retrospective Reporting –One’s past is constantly being reconstructed Retrospective accounts may be inaccurate  Social and organizational factors in reconstruction –Example #1 A departing nun may say she left because: “The Church was not responsive to demands for change.” Participation in a support group after leaving may lead her to conclude that: “I needed space to grow”

7. –Example #2 Those leaving a high demand NRM may conclude: “I didn’t have the stuff it takes to be a truly committed member” An ex-member who was with exit counselors might conclude: “I was manipulated and pressured to make commitments that were not in my interests but, rather, in the interest of leaders whose motives were less than pure.”  In both examples the individual is drawing perspective and interpretation from organizations and individuals with whom he or she is interacting

8.  Temporal Variability –Time may alter the way an ex-member feels about the group –Time may also alter one’s perception about how one felt at the time they left –Those who can’t get on with their lives are more likely to harbor resentment and blame the group for their current situation

9. Theoretical Issues  Several theories have been offered to explain how and why people exit an NRM  Role theory –Defection as role exiting –Embracing an ex-status Disengaging from a formally meaningful role Reestablishing identity in a new role –Role residual –“Hangover identity” –“Guilt” for having abandoned a commitment –Societal Reactions –Shifting friendship networks

10.  Causal Process Model –Crisis (e.g. breakdown of isolation from outside, hypocrisy of leadership, etc.) –Review and reflection –Disaffection –Withdrawal –Cognitive transformation –Cognitive reorganization

11.  Psychosocial Disruption –Expulsion Insubordination Rule violations Individual as burden to the group –Incapacity to care for self –A real nerd –Extraction Involuntarily removed Voluntarily removed

12.  The Brainwashing Model –Used often by anti-cult movement Religious opposition Secular opposition Apostates Entrepreneurial Opposition –Presuppositions Brainwashing is difficult to resist It has powerful effects Leaders “program” those who they have lured into the cult Reversing programming can only occur via deprogramming

13.  Brainwashing involves deceptive measures –Drugs –Food and sleep deprivation –Hypnosis  Once brainwashed the individual is enslaved and cannot act independently  Thus it is argued that conversion is not really a true commitment but a psudo-conversion

14.  “Brainwashing” and the process of deprogramming –Involuntary (coercive) Member is abducted and taken to an isolated location –Usually under false pretenses Member is interrogated non-stop Deprogrammer defames the group, the leadership, its beliefs, etc. The goal is to force the member to renounce the group, leader, and beliefs

15.  Voluntary (non-coercive) –Member agrees to participate –Member may “talk” about h/her faith rather than listen to deprogrammer the whole time

16.  Deprogramming still occurs but courts have ruled on behalf of NRMs lately –Members who were forcibly abducted and then returned sometimes sued their abductors for kidnapping

17. Empirical Knowledge  So what do we know about people who leave NRMs? –The brainwashing model suggests Leaving is difficult Successful exits require deprogramming Psychological scars are generally inevitable –The brainwashing model lacks empirical evidence –In fact, what we know is: Most people who join an NRM leave; most leave within 2 years Most leave by their own choice Wright found that about 67% felt “wiser for the experience”

18.  How one leaves can have ramifications for how they adjust later –James Lewis studied 154 people who left NRMs They left by different paths –Involuntary exit counseling –Voluntary exit counseling –On their own (no exit counseling)