Critical Thinking on Scientology & Anti-Scientology
I used to think that as long as I was not in the cult of Scientology, I would never fall into the unquestioning, partisan mindset I’d adopted when I was a Scientologist.
Social Science
The Proper Framework to Understand “Cults”
‘Cults’ only exist in terms of the mainstream society or culture around it. “Cults” are simply minorities within that mainstream context.
The Scientology Brainwashing Defense
The anti-cult movement provides the principle ideology almost all Ex-cult members are given to adopt after they leave their minority religions. The foundation of that anti-cult ideology is the belief in “brainwashing”. But does “brainwashing” really exist? Or is it just an excuse?
Deprogramming Witnesses a Huge Part of Raniere Criminal Case
Most all of the witnesses against Keith Raniere in his criminal trial went through government deprogramming before they testified. Studies have shown this re-deculturization greatly effects the Ex-cultist’s attitudes toward their experience.
How Hubbard Lied: ReDefining “Individuation” Like It’s A Bad Thing
What if being a Scientologist was never a really a disease in the first place that you needed to “recover from”? What if it was just one part of your own much longer spiritual journey that taught you many important lessons, and from which you emerged stronger and wiser than ever?
How would you know?
Ethnocentrism, Consent and a Secret Sorority Called DOS
Former members of NXIVM’s secret sorority called DOS discuss their decision-making, and their consent, in joining the group.
The Difference Between Ex-Scientology and Anti-Scientology
“Ex” is not “Anti”. Anti is a stance against. Ex is simply a former member, having many different stances about their former religious pursuit.
Religious Persecution of Minority Religions by Dick Anthony
The metaphor of ‘brainwashing’ is best understood as a social weapon for religious persecution which provides a “libertarian” rationale for the suppression of unpopular social movements and belief systems.
Anonymous Rinder Apologist Runs the “Poor Mike Rinder!” Bit
Poor Mike Rinder: Mike was brainwashed! Mike had no choice! Mike was only following orders! But what about Scientology’s victims? Why hasn’t he helped them?
Chief Seattle’s Speech
Yonder Sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My … Read more
Mike Rinder’s Speech on Why Scientology is a Religion
In 2011, Mike Rinder traveled to Trinity College in Ireland to debate why Scientology is a religion. I mean if he traveled all the way there to say this – he must have meant it … Read more
Brainwashing in Scientology: Security Checking & OW Write Ups
Former ED International of the Church of Scientology Bill Franks Reveals L Ron Hubbard’s Efforts to Create Brainwashing in Scientology.
The Foundation of Human Genocide
Human mainstream cultures protect themselves against minorities they feel threatened by.
How the Anti Cult Movement Harms Ex-Members
Adopting the beliefs of the anti-cult movement dramatically changes the views and attitudes of those who experience a loss of faith. Those changes have a profound effect on how Exes make sense of their own past. So we must ask: How helpful is the ideology of the anti cult movement in making sense of your life?
The Brainwashing Myth by Rebecca Moore
The brainwashing myth Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University Nearly 40 years ago, my two sisters, Carolyn Layton and Annie Moore, were among those who planned the mass deaths in Jonestown on Nov. 18, 1978. … Read more
A Thorough Deconstruction of “Brainwashing” by the Dossier Project
The Dossier Project: Eight women who’ve been been accused of being “brainwashed sex slaves” in the global media deconstruct this superstition for all to see.
Stephen Hassan Misrepresents the Science on “Brainwashing”
Does Stephen Hassan personally profit from his exit counseling & deprogramming business using the hysteria he creates around minority religions?
Cult Expert, London School of Economics Social Science Professor Eileen Barker Submits Herself to the Gearty Grilling
Why do you think anti-cultists reject science so much? And when they call a social scientist a “shill” or a “quack”, where is their quantitative data that disputes their work? Nowhere.
Cults of Anti-Cultism by Anton Shupe et al, 1980
This is a paper written in 1980 on the AntiCult Movement, as it existed when the authors estimated when it was 10 years old. Can you see any differences in the AntiCult Movement today? _______________________________________ … Read more
Adjusting to Mainstream Society After Scientology is Not “Recovery”
The cult recovery paradigm of Ex-Scientology sets up a whole bunch of things you think you need to “recover” from because you were in Scientology. This is a dysfunctional view. Paradigms are insidious things. They … Read more
Steven Hassan Makes Bizarre Claim for Why Moonie Brainwashing Didn’t Work Whenever Scientists Were in the Room
Social scientists like Eileen Barker traveled to Moonie recruitment seminars where brainwashing & mind control was claimed to be in use. They found that more than 90% of the people in those “brainwashing” seminars did not sign up to be a Moonie, and all were gone from the Moonies within 2 years.
Why Leah Remini Will Never Get Her Federal Investigation
Social scientists who study minority religions have observed that the main activity of the anti-cult movement is to create a moral panic around a targeted minority religion strong enough to make governments react. Members of … Read more
Two AntiCult Movement Evangelists Defend Their 40 Year Careers Trying to Scare People About ‘Cults’
Jon Atack and Steven Hassan have been the Jimmy Swaggart and Billy Graham of the Anti-Cult Movement for well neigh 40 years now, and I hear they’re just about ready to get some science to … Read more
Pushing “All or Nothing” Thinking on Exes By Never-ins
Angry Gay Pope tells an Ex-Scientologist what to think about their time in Scientology. This time with a major cognitive distortion.
Getting Out of a Cult is Not Something You Recover From, It’s Something You’re Strengthened By
Worldviews are fragile things. Don’t look at them too closely – they may collapse on you. Ex-Cult members know this better than you do.
Brainwashing and the Cults: The Rise and Fall of a Theory
In the United States at the end of the 1970s, brainwashing emerged as a popular theoretical construct around which to understand what appeared to be a sudden rise of new and unfamiliar religious movements during … Read more
Chris Shelton Read One Book By Social Scientists And Now He Knows All About It
This is the level of thought that is acceptable by those who believe in the AntiCult Movement’s ideology about minority religions. This is not critical thinking – it’s the sociological equivalent of an AntiVaxer rant.
Can Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker At Large Distinguish Between a ‘Cult Recovery Paradigm’ and Therapy?
Is Chris Shelton The Critical Thinker at Large the Stuart Smalley of Celebrity Anti-Scientology?
The Unquestioning Arrogance of Anti-Cult Movement Ideologues
An ideologue is so certain of the ideology he has adopted, and the rightness of how he sees the world, that he can sneer at people, knowing how superior he is. It is a lazy way to go through life, intellectually, but if you surround yourself with people who also never question their assumptions, either, it’s easier to live that way. One of the best examples is Tony Ortega.
My Anti-Scientology Apostasy
The 19th century German philosopher Max Scheler said that an apostate was ‘engaged in a continuous chain of acts of revenge against his own spiritual past’. American sociologist Lewis Coser defined an apostate as not … Read more
The Social Construction of the Anti-Scientology/Anti-Cult Narrative
The more power that you assign to subversive techniques such as “mind control” the easier it is for Ex-members to explain their membership and participation in minority religious groups after they’ve re-entered the mainstream.