Some members of some religious movements commit crimes; the organisational structure of some religious movements opens the way for abuses of authority. But criminal, dangerous or 'anti-social' behaviour is by no means typical of all religious movements. Simply because a religion is unfamiliar, or new or 'different' does not mean that it is necessarily a cause for concern. On the other hand, lack of information or misinformation about religious movements - old and new - can and does result in unnecessary suffering.
INFORM is unique in that it aims to alleviate unnecessary anxiety through the provision of accurate, objective information about new and/or alternative religious movements. That means avoiding making unfounded generalisations about religious movements, avoiding scaremongering and instead looking at each particular group and situation and sifting the facts from the mass of opinions, assumptions, anecdotes and hearsay.
Concern: Once they get involved, they'll never get away...
Fact: A study of 104 participants in Unification Church (Moonie) workshops showed that 71% dropped out within two days; 17% agreed to attend a 21-day workshop, but only 9% of these workshop participants stayed the 21 days and actually joined the Unification Church for a week or longer, with no more than 6% of the original 104 still being members after 4 months.1
Fact: Out of a sample of over 1000 participants who agreed to go to a Unification Church workshop, 90% did not join and the majority of those who did join had left within two years.2
Concern: Even if they leave, they'll never be normal again...
Fact: A survey of 45 people who voluntarily left new religions showed that by far the majority felt wiser for the experience rather than feeling angry or duped.3
Fact: A study of former members of the Shiloh Community, a fundamentalist Jesus community, indicated that the former members experienced no ill effects of past membership, had integrated well on return to the larger community, and did not differ from the general population on a symptom checklist.4
Concern: They must be out of their minds to stay in a group like that...
Fact: Systematic studies of members of new and/or alternative and spiritual religious groups find that most are psychologically healthy.
Fact: The researcher Marc Galanter used the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to conduct the first systematic psychological studies on members of a new religion (the Unification Church). Galanter found no evidence for a greater incidence of pathological profiles among members than among the general population. 5
Fact: Residents of Rajneeshpuram (a township, now defunct, built by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, latterly known as Osho) were found to have a high level of mental health. Research indicated that Bhagwan's followers had very positive self-concepts, and, compared with the wider society, lower feelings of personal distress and anxiety and greater feelings of personal autonomy and independence of thought. 6
We are NOT saying that religious movements never give cause for concern.
Fact: 1978 A total of 914 members of The People's Temple, a movement combining elements of Pentecostalism, socialism and communism, died in a mass suicide-murder in Jonestown, Guyana. The People's Temple was founded by Jim Jones in the United States in 1955.
Fact: 1993 A government raid on the Branch Davidians' compound at Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas led to a standoff and fire in which about 75 people including the group's leader, David Koresh, died. It is still unclear whether or to what extent the deaths in the fire were suicides. In total there were 93 deaths. The Branch Davidian movement is an offshoot of Seventh-day Adventism.
Fact: 1994-1997 Seventy-four members of the Order of the Solar Temple, a movement based around a variety of esoteric teachings including Templarism and Rosicrucianism, died in separate incidents of suicide/murder in Canada, Switzerland and France.
Fact: 1995 Twelve people died and thousands were injured in a sarin gas attack committed by members of Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo's subway. Aum Shinrikyo was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1986; the movement draws on various eastern traditions.
Fact: 1997 Thirty-nine members of Heaven's Gate, a UFO group, committed suicide in San Diego, California. It is thought that members of the movement believed that a spacecraft positioned behind the Comet Hale-Bopp would take them to the next level of existence.
Fact: 2000 Around 300 followers of the Ugandan Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments died in a fire in what was either a mass suicide or a murder carried out by the group's leaders. Mass graves were discovered after the fire, raising the death toll to more than 1,000. The movement was founded as a breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1980s.
BUT ... There are thousands upon thousands of new religions in today's world. Dreadful tragedies are the exception rather than the rule. Misinformation and generalisation about these groups can actually give rise to difficulties.
GET THE FACTS
Contact
