"Getting out of a 'cult' is not something that you recover from, it is something you are strengthened by." -- Alanzo
The anti-cult movement is made of people with varied ideological affiliations who attack & vilify minority religious & spiritual pursuits. They can hide their ideological affiliations and never be questioned for them as part of the “anti-cult movement”.
The anticult movement belief system is often made available to Exes of minority religions so they can “re-think” their involvement. Although brainwashing has been thoroughly debunked by science, the anti-cult movement seeks to promote this insidious belief, much to the detriment of Ex-Scientologists and others.
It uses pejorative terms such as “cult”, and stereotypes such as “brainwashed cult member” to dehumanize and marginalize members of minority religions.
To be sure, abuses have occured in minority religions. But have they occured to the extent that abuse has occured in the majority ones? Do members of ‘cults’ commit suicide more often than members of majority religions?
These are some of the questions we explore here at AlanzosBlog.
If there’s one reason that I’m doing these videos, it’s because these ideas from the anti cult movement are destructive to an Ex-Scientologist, or an Ex-member of any minority religion that they call “cult”. And they’re just beliefs – they’re not facts.
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 […]
The following is a compilation of scientific studies which have thoroughly debunked the idea of ‘brainwashing’. This settled science has been completely ignored by members of the anti-cult movement who, for their own various self-interests, keep the superstition of “brainwashing” alive – no matter how many ex-members of minority religions it has harmed. The below […]
Is Fair Game better when it’s applied to Scientology? Can there be an immoral equivalence when what Scientology does is then done back at them? Either you are against hypocrisy, cruelty and abuse, or you are not – no matter who does it.
This documentary contains a very good discussion of the limits of power that people have over those who make religious and spiritual choices that others don’t like.
One of the most hysterical and unscientific beliefs of the Anti-Cult movement is that “brainwashing” and “Mind Control” is at work whenever anyone becomes a member of a “cult”. These ideas are assumed and unquestioned by members of the anti-Cult Movement. They’re the basis of their anti-cult beliefs. But when asked for any study that […]
In a recent article about ideological influences on wikipedia, Hassan writes: “The Unification Church page then disparages critics, such as myself, as incorrectly stating that the group brainwashes members. Yet, I was a member and experienced this firsthand. Sociologist Eileen Barker is a cult apologist and made her career stating the Moonies do not do […]
A review of the major problems with the brainwashing theory of recruitment and maintaining membership in a minority religion. By James T Richardson – 2006
A valued contributor to this blog, Richard, said something that made me realize a whole bunch of things about Tony Ortega and his Underground Bunker, ESMB, and all the other outlets of the Anti-Scientology Mafia Network (ASMN) Richard wrote: “Classifying all people participating on the Underground Bunker as cultists seemed to have a shock effect, […]
There are some very common ways that you can become a hypocrite as an anti-Scientologist. After being an anti-Scientologist myself for so long, I have identified a few of those ways of thinking so that you can avoid being a hypocrite as an Anti-Scientologist.
If you came upon an article on the Internet about psychiatry which made some of the same outrageous claims that the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights made, it would be an important critical thinking point to know whether the author was a Scientologist. Knowing whether the author was a Scientologist would allow you to know […]
Alanzo is an Ex-Scientologist who sees the same tribalism he escaped in Scientology rising up in Anti-Scientology.
Out of all the lessons he learned by escaping Scientology, he learned one lesson harder than any other: Never let your tribe do your thinking for you.
Alanzo writes from the battlefield of the war between Scientology & Anti-Scientology.
