Advocacy, brainwashing theories, and new religious movements

AbstractAdvocacy by scholars in the field of new religious movements emerged during the 'cult wars,' which in the U.S. had their peak between 1970 and 1990 and continued in Europe and Japan in subsequent decades. Advocacy focused on the question of whether the 'cults' used a persuasion technique known as brainwashing. The idea of brainwashing was born during the Cold War, and originally applied to Communist techniques of indoctrination, but was lately first extended to religion and subsequently used as a tool to distinguish between legitimate and non-legitimate religions, labeling the latter as 'cults.' Prominent psychologists and sociologists were involved in these battles, with most scholars of new religious movements appearing in court in order to criticize the brainwashing theories advocated by psychologist Margaret T. Singer and a handful of anti-cult academics. After the Fishman decision of 1990, which seriously hit the anti-cult camp, advocacy in this field did not disappear but became somewhat less partisan.Key Words: new religious movementscultsbrainwashingcoercive persuasionthought reform Additional informationDr Massimo Introvigne is managing director of CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, in Torino, Italy, and teaches Sociology of Religious Movements at the Pontifical Salesian University, also in Torino. The author of some 60 books in Italian, some of them translated into French, English, German, Czech, Spanish, and Lithuanian, Dr Introvigne served in 2001 as the Representative of OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) for combating racism, xenophobia, and religious discrimination, and is currently Chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty established by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.