Apologetics Resource Center HOME
Make an online donation to support the ministry of ARC.
Areopagus Journal
Subscribe to Areopagus Journal
Areopagus Journal Back Issues
Veritas
About ARC
About ARC
What is Apologetics?
Contact ARC
FAQ
ARC Staff
Kansas City, MO Office of ARC
Resources
Worldviews Newsletter
Host an ARC Conference
ARC Events
Apologetics Institute
Recommended Reading
Free Information Packets
Free Online Apologetics Articles
Audio Messages
From the Front Lines
The Apologetics Resource Center (ARC) is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to reach the minds and hearts of people with the message and truth claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Overcoming the Bondage of Re-Victimization: A Response to "Overcoming the Bondage of Victimization,"
by Robert and Gretchen Passantino
By by Paul R. Martin, Ph.D. and Lawrence A. Pile
with Ron Burks, M.A. and Stephen D. Martin, M.Div.

GENERAL COMMENTS

In their article long-time cult researchers Bob and Gretchen Passantino criticize the radical concept of cult conversion which says that many people’s lives are drastically and negatively altered by powerful and sophisticated thought reform techniques. They assert that this is an erroneous theory, but is used by exit counselors and professionals to explain the changes seen in cult members, and most people accept its validity without question. The purpose of the Passantinos’ article is, they say, to "look behind the assumption of the mind control model and uncover the startling reality that cult mind control is, at best, a distorted misnomer for cult conversion and robs individuals of personal moral responsibility." Then they go on to say, "while mind-control-model advocates rightly point Out that cults often practice deception, emotional manipulation, and other unsavory recruitment tactics, we believe a critical, well-reasoned examination of the evidence disproves the cult mind control model and instead affirms the importance of the informed, biblically based religious commitment."

The present article, however, will show that the Passantinos’ assertions are incorrect and misguided. Specifically, this article will demonstrate that mind control is more than cult conversion; that, while mind control does not rob people of moral responsibility, it mitigates it; and that there is no conflict between biblical theology and the reality of mind control.2 We contend that theological considerations inform our understanding of the sociological and psychological destruction caused by cults. Cults distort one’s perceptions of both natural reality (sociological and psychological) and spiritual reality. Since the former is supposed to reveal the latter, as in the Christian tradition, those interested in spiritual issues must address both sides in order to minister adequately to cultists.

The Passantinos’ article begins with a description of a fairly typical exit counseling. The authors cite former Unificationist and now exit counselor Steve Hassan as stating that the average fee for exit counseling is $3000 plus expenses for about four days of exit counseling. That is probably not too far off the mark. In spite of the authors’ implication that exit counselors make good money, we don’t know of any who has made over $35,000 a year. Because of the nature of their work, exit counselors have to be on call virtually 24 hours a day, like firemen and paramedics. So if they make $3000-4000 they may be on one case a week or a month. A lot of their time is spent in research and preparation, and they have to be willing to move when time demands. Considering the total expenses necessary to a thorough exit counseling, we believe the reaction to the fees charged by mind control experts is a bit unwarranted.

The Passantinos write, "Of course, there were no guarantees: some ex-cultists needed additional inpatient counseling at a special ‘recovery center’..." The implication of this statement seems to be that exit counseling is pretty unreliable, and maybe some other method is preferable, namely what the authors describe as "a scripturally legitimate response to cult conversion: biblical apologetics and preaching the gospel" (footnote 4). Aside from the inherent denial in this statement of psychological distress that needs to be treated professionally, our response is two-fold. First, I [PRM] have conducted extensive research comparing the psychological state of cult members both before and after exit counseling. My research is conclusive: we demonstrated that, as effective as exit counseling is in persuading cult members to leave their cults, it does not usually relieve all the psychological distress. Though it may in some cascs, my evidence doesn’t strongly support this. To my knowledge there has only been one study done on deprogramming failure rates, and it is based (I believe) on anecdotal evidence. No previous studies have looked at the differential effects of post-cult stress relative to method of exit. Recovery typically entails more than exit counseling. Therefore, it seems there is some ethical necessity on the part of post-cult recovery providers to offer the necessary follow-up care, or at the very least, to refer clients to others who are qualified to provide such care.

Second, the Passantinos imply that this entire field of post-cult recovery is a very expensive undertaking. They state that post-cult rehabilitation after exit counseling is an additional expense, and imply that it is most likely unnecessary. However, no one has become rich in the post-cult rehabilitation business. In the case of Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, the expenses needed to pay four full-time and five part-time workers, and maintain a lodge and office building, has led to one conclusion — that there is no great financial incentive for working in this field. The financial picture of all previous post-cult rehabilitation centers was typical. Sadly, due to the financial difficulties of operating such rehabilitation centers, all but Wellspring have ceased to exist.

One of the first problems that impressed us in reading the Passantinos’ critique is the "all-or-nothing" fallacy. This is all the more remarkable in that the Passantinos discuss this fallacy in their book Witch Hunt. Under the heading "It’s Not Always Either/Or" they write, "Another problem Christians often have in discerning between good and bad is the tendency to miss some of the options."3 The article under consideration in this response amply illustrates this point from the Passantinos’ own writing. Primarily, this is expressed by the authors’ discussion of those who hold to the mind control model as though every one of them holds the identical view, and specifically that they all believe every cult member is completely under mind control, and totally and always unable to think for him/herself. This assertion is untrue, and is essentially a "straw man" set up by the Passantinos as an easy target. The following passage from their article is illustrative:

In this approach sociological and psychological terminology has been substituted for Christian terminology. Cult involvement is no longer described as religious conversion but as mind control induction. Cult membership is not characterized as misplaced religious zeal but as programming. And the cultist who leaves his group is no longer described as redeemed but as returned to a neutral religious position. And rather than evangelism of cult members, we now have "intervention counseling."

Biblical apologetics have been replaced by cognitive dissonance techniques. A parent’s plea has changed from How can my adult child be saved? to How can my adult child revert to his/her precult personality? Biblical analysis and evangelism of the cults has become overshadowed by allegedly "value neutral" social science descriptions and therapy-oriented counseling.4

Later the authors write,

The cult mind control model is based on a fundamental conviction that the cultist becomes unable to make responsible and rational choices or decisions (particularly the decision to leave the group) and that psychological techniques are the most effective way to free them to make decisions once more. This foundation is nonnegotiable to the mind control model and is at the root of what we consider so flawed about the mind control concept.5

We know of no one who holds the mind control model who would subscribe to the version described by the Passantinos. At least, prominent scholars Robert J. Lifton, Margaret Singer, and Louis J. West hold no such view. In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton wrote:

Behind this web of semantic... confusion [regarding the definition of thought reform] lies an image of "brainwashing" as an all-powerful, irresistible, unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total control over the human mind. It is of course none of these things, and this loose usage makes the word a rallying point for fear. resentment, urges toward submission, justification for failure, irresponsible accusation, and for a wide gamut of emotional extremism.

In her recent book, Cults in Our Midst, Margaret Singer writes:

Thankfully, these [thought reform] programs do not change people permanently. Nor are they 100 percent effective. Cults are not all alike, thought reform programs are not all alike, and not everyone exposed to specific intense influence processes succumbs and follows the group. Some cults try to defend themselves by saying, in effect, "See, not everyone joins or stays, so we must not be using brainwashing techniques." Many recruits do succumb, however, and the better organized the influence processes used, the more people win succumb.7

Finally, in an essay entitled "Persuasive Techniques in Religious Cults,"8 West wrote:

The persuasive techniques used by totalist cults to bind and exploit the members, while not magical or infallible, are sufficiently powerful and effective to assure the recruitment of a significant percentage of those approached, and the retention of a significant percentage of those enlisted.9

But of course, the "experts" cited by Bob and Gretchen perpetuate the myth that mind control model advocates believe that the Manchurian Candidate actually can be created by cultic mind control. One of the "experts" cited is British sociologist Eileen Barker, others are David Bromley and Anson Shupe.

The Passantinos failed to mention in their article, however, that Ms. Barker has been co-opted by the Unification Church, with the result that her former Organization, INFORM, had its funding yanked by the British government after a storm of protest from churches, parents and former cult members. Singer’s book Cults in Our Midst documents this, citing a press release from a member of the Houseof Commons.10 Singer also refers to a 1989 Religious News Service report11 revealing that Barker’s book The Making of a Moonie was actually funded by the Unification Church, as were "all her expenses to attend 18 conferences in Europe, New York, the Caribbean, Korea, and South America. ‘My univer~ity and the SSRC (a U.K. government grants council) regarded this attendance necessary for my research,’ she said. ‘They thought if the Moonies paid the bills it would be a big savings for the taxpayer.’" Singer adds, "Not everyone felt that way. One member of Parliament said, ‘Any academic who allows themselves [sic] to be manipulated to lend credence to a cult does harm to families all over the world.’" One may say, "What’s the big deal?" The big deal is that this is tantamount to permitting an allegedly "independent expert" investigate the Exxon Valdez oil spill on a grant from Exxon. Or to allow an "outside researcher" prepare an in-depth report on the Ku Klux Klan using money supplied by the Klan. How objective can we really expect such "researchers" to be?

Singer also refers to Bromley and Shupe, who, in their book Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare, point their accusing fingers, not at the cults, but at former cult members, for allegedly creating the "hysteria" concerning cults. Bromley and Shupe, along with Barker and others, seem to think that the only people who are truly reliable to give the straight dope about the cults are those who are current members. Again, this is as logical as to believe that only members of the Nazi Party could be trusted to tell the truth about what went on behind the gates at Auschwitz.

The second paragraph in the section headed "Assumptions of Mind Control" in the Passantinos’ article contrasts biblical apologetics with psychological techniques. The Passantinos seem to be saying that post-cult recovery involves merely getting somebody converted, but that those who hold the secular mind control model are concerned only with helping somebody recover his or her pre-cult personality. The Passantinos imply that these two notions, the biblical and the secular, cannot be reconciled. They assert that mind control adherents do away with theological concerns. Again, as cited above, the Passantinos write, "Biblical analysis and evangelism have been overshadowed by allegedly ‘value neutral’ social science descriptions and therapy-oriented counseling." We wish to state here that this all or nothing dichotomy is not characteristic of the program we offer at Wellspring, or that others offer.

The Passantinos proceed to list eight "categories" which they say represent "the principal assumptions of the cult mind control model’.. They then summarize these eight assumptions, the first of which is:

"[c]ults’ ability to control the mind supersedes that of the best military ‘brainwashers.’" In a footnote, the authors mention two factors offered by proponents of the mind control theory to account for the cults’ greater success: "(1) greater levels of sophistication, technology, and psychological knowledge; and (2) the addition of hypnosis techniques to the practice." Not mentioned, however, is one factor we believe is perhaps more significant than either of these two, namely, that in military brainwashing the subjects were unwilling participants, and in fact antagonists of the brainwashers (at least in the most well-known instances, Chinese Communist brainwashing of Korean War POWs), whereas in cultic mind control the subjects are generally favorably disposed toward the cult members and indeed toward the teachings with which they are being indoctrinated. This factor must not be ignored.

The second category listed by the authors is: "[c]ult recruits become unable to think or make decisions for themselves." This is another example of what we might call "totalist" or "all-or-nothing" expression. We reject the implied assertion that we accept this statement as it is written. We are well aware that many cult members do retain the ability to think for themselves in many areas of life, even perhaps in matters religious. We have always recognized that there are many degrees of mind control, depending on numerous factors. Among these factors are (1) the type and severity of any pre-cult spiritual or psychological problems; (2) the degree of divergence of the cult’s teachings and practices from the cult member’s prior religious affiliation; (3) the intensity of the cultic indoctrination; (4) the degree to which the cult severs the cult member from his or her previous connections (family, friends, activities, etc.); (5) the kind and degree of any corrective or disciplinary measures exercised by the cult on members who step out of line. Other such factors could be mentioned.

Having said this, we hasten to add that in the nine years of Wellspring’s operation we have seen enough ex-cult members who did have difficulty thinking for themselves and making decisions that we know it to be a real and serious problem, and not one to dismiss as a "pre-cult problem." One girl who came to Wellspring from a well-known "shepherding movement" would sit at the dinner table and wait until she received permission to eat any item on her plate before she would do so. A great many cult survivors we have seen have recognized this problem in themselves and have requested help in decision making.

The Passantinos list as the third category of mind control assumptions "[c]ult recruits assume ‘cult’ personalities and subsume their core personalities." Again, most ex-cult members who come to Wellspring recognize this very thing about themselves while they were in their particular cult. They tell us that while they were in the cult they became more aggressive or more passive, more self-assured or more confused, more judgrnental of others or more arrogant. They’ve told us they’ve lost touch with their own feelings, become emotionally numb, while putting on a happy front when with parents or non-cult friends. We have seen these things ourselves in ex-cultists, and we’ve seen the dramatic changes when they’ve reverted to their normal, pre-cult selves.

But again, we would acknowledge degrees of this "personality replacement." Not every cult member changes to the same degree, and in fact some already have a personality that meshes with the cult, and so they will not change much, if at all.

Category four listed by the Passantinos is: "[c]ultists cannot decide to leave their cults." We don’t know anyone who would make such a blanket statement. It is manifestly contradicted by the hundreds or thousands of ex-cult members who have left their cults of their own volition. What we would assert, however, is that many cult members find it difficult to leave their cult, even when they may want to. This is often due to fear of the threatened consequences of leaving — e.g., forsaking God, being condemned to hell, suffering divine wrath in the form of accidents or disease, etc. Even the thought "What if the cult leader really is a prophet of God or the messiah?" can hold a cult member in a cult long after the bloom has faded. One female member of the Branch Davidians being interviewed for an Australian television broadcast was asked, "Do you believe David Koresh is the Messiah?" Her response as she smiled up at the camera: "I hope so." She was one who stayed and perished in the final conflagration.

As category five the authors state that those who hold the mind control model believe that "[a] successfull intervention must break the mind control, find the core personality, and return the individual to his/her precult status." We would qualify this assertion by acknowledging that most abusive organizations have some redeeming qualities — few are all bad. In cults it is possible to learn the value of giving oneself to a cause, to learn the benefits of hard work, of getting along with others in a working environment, etc. Further, we would emphasize that if the cult in question is a Bible-based organization on the order of the "shepherding" movement or what we refer to as a taco (a totalist aberrant Christian organization) which teaches orthodox biblical doctrine while committing emotional, spiritual, and behavioral abuses, then clearly not everything of the cult needs to be stripped away. Whatever was accurate, orthodox, and healthy can remain, while the inaccurate, aberrational, and unhealthy must be excised. Probably no cult (except some satanist cults) is all bad, therefore one of the most important, and difficult, tasks of the counselor is helping the ex-member winnow out the bad from the good.

Category six is: "[p]sychology and sociology are used to explain cult recruitment, membership, and disaffection." Another blanket statement, this is worded so as to exclude other disciplines as sources for explanations, specifically theology. While many secular proponents of the mind control model might reject the role of theology in seeking such explanations, we do not, nor do other evangelical proponents of the mind control model with whom we are familiar. later in the article the authors quote from an official description of "Wellspring’s Approach to Cult Rehab":

Martin asserts that cult mind control renders its victims virtually unresponsible for their actions or beliefs:

[T]he process whereby he or she was drawn into the cult was a subtle but powerful force over which he or she had little or no control and therefore they need not feel either guilt or shame because of their experience.12

While the Wellspring statement might be slightly overstated, the Passantinos overstate it further in their summary. By itself, the Wellspring statement could be broadly interpreted, as the Passantinos have chosen to do. However, the original context is concerned specifically with joining a cult.13 It was not a blanket statement concerning anything and everything Cult members may have done after they joined. Regardless, our experience, as a result of treating more than 300 former cultists and interviewing hundreds more, is that most people who join cults think they’re joining a good group, a righteous group, a moral group. But this is largely because they have not been afforded full information about the group they’re joining. We would agree that those who join cults are "guilty" of not asking all the right questions, of not examining cult claims thoroughly enough against the records of history and Scripture, and of not adequately applying the rules of logic to cult teachings and explanations. In other words, cult recruits are "guilty" of allowing themselves to be deceived. But is that a sin? Should we rebuke the victim of a con artist for allowing himself to be victimized? Do we blame the battered wife for continuing to love and protect her abuser?

In addition, we feel it is crucial to distinguish between true guilt and false guilt. Cult members are constantly made to feel guilty for actions and thoughts which neither society nor the Bible or other sacred scriptures would consider sinful. In such cases the guilt is false and one needs to understand and accept that and move beyond it.14 Where truly sinful, immoral, or illegal actions have been committed they need to be acknowledged and owned by the perpetrators. We insist, however, that to the extent such actions are committed while under mind control, to that extent the perpetrator must be held less culpable (not totally innocent).

Under mind control a man may be persuaded to believe or do things that would have normally violated his conscience. His conscience may tell him that such an action or belief is wrong, but what the cult leader has persuaded him of has so strongly influenced him that it may override his conscience. He may be led to believe that the promptings of his conscience are really of his "lower nature," "of the flesh," and that the mission of the group is of a "higher purpose," that the thoughts of his conscience are doubts that show lack of faith or signs of rebellion. Thus he may still have a conscience, but through the powerful influence of the group he has reinterpreted it.

The Passantinos seem unable to conceive of non-coercive mind control that does allow for some measure of "free will." No one drags people into a cult. They do join freely most of the time — when they don’t, it’s the rare exception rather than the rule. The point here is not whether these people are acting as free, volitional, rational beings. The point is they don’t join a cult — i.e., they don’t see the group as a cult. They don’t see the fine print. This is why we have laws regarding defective products. That’s why we have "truth in advertising" laws. This is why law recognizes the concept of undue influence and coercion. The same principles hold here. The ways in which we are attracted to friends, how we are attracted to groups, how we are attracted to religious groups, don’t vary. The initial stages of cult conversion are usually similar to other types of conversion.

The Passantinos don’t seem to realize that human beings operate by certain laws of human behavior. Consider the case of a Christian college student who goes out and buys a used car, considering herself to be very responsible. Later she finds out that the car is not as "perfect" as the salesman told her it was. In fact, it throws a rod on her way to work. She goes back to try to have the car fixed, but the salesman informs her that the warranty is also not exactly what he told her when she bought the car. So now the unfortunate girl is left with a lemon on her hands. The Church would not castigate her as having some sort of spiritual problem because of this plight, would it? However, if the Passantinos were entirely consistent, they would blame the girl’s problem on lack of discernment.

If the same girl would go out and start attending a Bible study that later turned out to be a Way "twig," then they would put a spiritual twist on it, impugning her motives or her spiritual state that would lead her into a "heretical" Bible study group. But if she buys a car that breaks down, they would hold her innocent. There seems to be double standard here.

One other thing regarding the Wellspring statement quoted above by the Passantinos. By broadly interpreting the statement they have misrepresented us. I [PRM] have testified in a criminal case15 of a cult member who participated in the killing of five people. We didn’t argue that the cult member was innocent and need not feel guilt or shame. We argued that the young man was guilty. The defendant was Danny Kraft, Jr., who had been a member of a small cult led by Jeffrey Lundgren, who killed a family of five in Kirtland, Ohio.16 Nevertheless, in this case we agreed that Danny was guilty. But we also argued that there were mitigating circumstances, namely, that Danny was under the influence of Jeffrey Lundgren through the process of mind control. Therefore he was not acting entirely as a free moral agent because he was suffering from a mental disorder. In other words, he was made to believe something that was not true, namely, that Jeffrey Lundgren was the prophet of God, and thus whatever he said was divinely inspired.

The court unequivocally concurred that these techniques were those of mind control. The court agreed that Danny did indeed suffer a dissociative disorder, identified by the DSM-III-R and DSM-IV as scientific. The term "coercive persuasion" is used in the DSM-IV to describe an established technique also called mind control. The processes that constitute coercive persuasion can produce a mental disorder cal led "dissociative disorder not otherwise specified." Typically, we hear former members lamenting what they had done in the cult. At the time, they did not realize what they were doing was wrong, but after they left the cult they recognized their errors. Yet these same people never intended to do such wrongs (lying, etc.) when they joined. But through the thought reform process, lying, for example, may appear to be justified.

Along this line, the Passantinos write:

Hassan recognizes that the cult mind control model (which he has adopted) is incompatible with the traditional philosophical and Christian view of man as a responsible moral agent:

First of all, accepting that unethical mind control can affect anybody challenges the age-old philosophical notion (the one on which our current laws are based) that man is a rational being, responsible for, and in control of, his every action. Such a world view does not allow for any concept of mind control.17

We are not so sure we agree with Hassan on this point. First of all, "our current laws" do recognize "diminished capacity" in the commission of crime as exculpatory. Secondly, the biblical world view also recognizes exculpation by reason of diminished capacity due to mental under-development (Deut. 1:39) or demonization. So neither Western secular philosophy nor Judeo-Christian doctrine views man as always fully rational and responsible for his actions. In addition, the apostle Paul writes, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you...?" (Gal. 3:1, New American Standard Bible) The word translated "bewitched", baskaino, means "bewitch, as with the ‘evil eye’",18 "to bring evil on one by feigned praise or an evil eye, to charm, bewitch one, ...; hence, of those who lead away others into error by wicked arts..."19 It is doubtful that in the Galatians reference Paul is expressing belief that the Christians have

actually had the "evil eye" directed at them. However, in conjunction with the word "foolish" (anoetos = "not thinking" or "mindless") it seems evident that Paul recognizes that they have been victimized to the point where they are no longer thinking clearly or properly. In other words, the Galatians are under a fornt of mind control!

But more B propos to a discussion of category 6 is the Passantinos’ citing only the one sentence they did from the Wellspring article, while ignoring the following:

When cult members leave their cults voluntarily it is often because they have recognized a few of the serious problems that exist in the group, but have failed to aclcnowledge or come to grips with others of equal or greater import. More importantly, they usually do not recognize the fundamentally invalid and harmful philosophy and methodology that typically underlie the cult’s teaching and practice and give it its reason for being. Thus such a person may leave the cult feeling disgruntled or disillusioned about some aspects of the cult, and yet still hold to other, and more basic, ideas and thought patterns of the cult that will continue to hamper them and prevent them from enjoying a truly satisfying life. In addition, those who have been in a "Bible-based" cult are often So burned by their unpleasant experience that they want nothing more to do with God, the church, or Christians of any type. Some of these people still sense a need for a spiritual dimension in their life, but don’t know how to overcome their lack of trust in God or ministers, and may actually feel that they have failed, that somehow their own inadequacy prevented them from being able to measure up to the high standards of the group. For such individuals rehabilitative counseling of one form or another is imperative.

The plight of people like this was addressed during the International Congress on Totalitarian Groups and Cultism held in Barcelona, Spain on April 23-24 this year [1993]. One of the speakers, "Hero Lucas, from Greece’s Egregorsis Educational Society, cited the dangers of a totally non-judgmental attitude towards the belief system of a destructive cult and spoke of treating human beings as integrated biopsychosocial-spiritual systems requiring a comprehensive approach and the combining of psychiatry with religion."20 In other words, to be most effective, cult rehab counseling must deal with the ex-cultist as a whole individual, considering his or her biological, psychological, social, and spiritual health and the interrelatedness of these facets of the person. With over seven years of experience, we at Wellspring are likewise convinced that a wholistic approach works best in rehabilitating the victims of destructive cults and spiritually abusive organizations. The contents of this counseling and education deal with the dynamics of abusive groups, how these dynamics affect one’s personality and emotions, and how these groups distort and abuse the teachings of the Bible or other relevant sacred texts.

The core of Wellspring’s program consists of psychological counseling and instructional sessions on cultic dynamics and religious and spiritual issues. We emphasize, however, that we fully respect the client’s wishes with regard to any spiritual content in counseling or workshops. The majority of our clients thus far have been former members of "Bible based" groups and have wanted to discuss biblical doctrine with us, which we are happy to do.21

This should make it obvious that Wellspring clearly recognizes the importance of the spiritual dimension in cult involvement and takes it seriously.

We accept categories 7 and 8 as written ("(7) Religious conversion and commitment may be termed mind control if it meets certain psychological and sociological criteria, regardless of its doctrinal or theological standards" and "(8) The psychological and sociological standards which define mind control are not absolute but fall in a relative, subjective continuum from ‘acceptable’ social and/or religious affiliation to ‘unacceptable’").

Bob and Gretchen conclude this section by saying, "According to most cult-mind-control-model advocates, no one is immune to the right mind control tactics used at the right time. Anyone is susceptible." After a quote Hassan, they quote from my [PRM] book, Cult-Proofing Your Kids: "But the truth of the matter is, virtually anyone can get involved in a cult under the right circumstances.... Regardless of one’s spiritual or psychological health, whether one is weak or strong, cultic involvement can happen to anyone."

Claiming to state the views of mind control model proponents, the Passantinos write, "Cult mind control must be distinguished from ‘mere’ deception, influence, or persuasion. A main distinguishing characteristic at the core of mind control is the idea that the individual is unable to make autonomous personal choices, not simply that his or her choices have been predicated on something false."

This paragraph is a further instance of the authors’ fundamental misunderstanding of the mind control model as propounded by most of those who hold it. Advocates acknowledge that those under mind control can make autonomous personal choices on occasion, but also that this ability differs from individual to individual. The quote from Barker included here compounds this misconception by attempting to separate deception from mind control. But mind control includes deception as one of. its common elements. It is precisely because of this that the individual finds it extremely difficult to make autonomous personal choices. One’s ability to make such choices is diminished by deception, but beyond this one’s environment is also manipulated to this end. This is a crucial point. We can’t put an either/or on mind control when it is properly understood. It is not either deception or inability to make choices. Mind control is deception that affects making choices — i.e., the target of the cult recruiter is gradually manipulated to the point where other options are no longer considered viable.

Furthermore, the ultimate choice turns out not to be the ideal that attracted the person in the first place. lii other words, the full or real agenda of the group is concealed, and the facts concerning other choices and options are distorted by various techniques of thought reform — for example, the restriction of information or the interpretation of events to make them seem mystical. Over time one is gradually drawn farther into the mind control environment in which information is more and more controlled, in which there is a systematic effort to restructure the self, in which there is a clear program of rewards and punishments, and in which there is a constant demand to confess (via group and peer pressures) ideas, thoughts, or actions contrary to group dogma, and as a result choices are "funneled" or constricted The broader arena of choices, then, for the cult member is limited by a number of factors: lack of information, fear of considering certain choices, and perceptual narrowing due to the dissociative processes typically practiced in such groups, e.g., prolonged singing, chanting, tongue speaking meditating, listening to charismatic speakers, etc.

OBJECTION: THE BRAINWASHING CONNECTION

The Passantinos begin this section of their article by alleging a "contradictory embrace and rejection of the brainwashing connection" to the mind control model on the part of its advocates. The mind control model advocates say, according to the authors, that the early methods of mind control were ineffective; the later methods are more effective and require less coercion and also employ techniques like hypnosis. The Passantinos write, "However, it stretches one’s credulity to believe that what highly trained and technologically supported CIA, Russian, Korean, and Chinese experts could not accomplish under extremes of mental, emotional, and physical abuse, self-styled modern messiahs like David Koresh (high school dropout), Charles Manson (grade school dropout), and Hare Krishna founder Prabhupada (self-educated) accomplished on a daily basis and on a massive scale with control methods measurably inferior to those of POW camp torturers." In a footnote (number 20) the authors add that they are not alone in their skepticism, citing Bromley and Shupe as also sharing it.

However, the citation from Hassan two paragraphs earlier offers the response to this objection. Hassan points out that "[m]ind control... is more subtle and sophisticated. Its perpetrators are regarded as friends or peers, so the person is much less defensive. He unwittingly participates by cooperating with his controllers and giving them private information that he does not know will be used against him. The new belief system is internalized into a new identity Structure..."22 The subtlety of mind control is the key to its effectiveness, and "love bombing" is the key to its subtlety; the overwhelming "friendliness" of the cult recruiter tends to disengage the potential recruit’s defenses, catching him off guard, and luring him into the net.

The Passantinos clearly would be absolutely shocked if they ever really saw or heard the evidence that indicates that Manson, Koresh, the Hare Krishnas and many others actually have done a lot better job than these CIA, Russian, Korean, and Chinese experts did. One factor contributing to their skepticism is their failure to realize that the early brainwashing literature didn’t concern only prisons and torture and sleep deprivation. It also describes the revolutionary colleges that operated in China and the mass conversion of Chinese citizens to the Communist system. Theodore E. H. Chen, for example, amply documents that half a million Chinese Christians signed pledges of allegiance to Mao.23 Lifton’s best-known research24as actually largely about the effects of these revolutionary colleges that practiced thought reform. There was no physical restraint or confinement in those environments. There was very little overt coercion, and yet there was massive thought reform. Edward Schein also found that the Communists effectively used thought reform without using physical restraint or coercion.~ The Passantinos seem to assume the earlier techniques of thought reform were completely in the context of coercive physical confinement and torture. However, there were some early non-physically coercive methods like those of the revolutionary colleges that were highly effective.~

Hypnosis as a factor in cult involvement is dismissed by the authors in toto. They miss an important point in their own references. In their notes (footnote 5) they quote the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Altogether then hypnosis should not be considered as a technique for achieving supernormal performance or control. Rather it is a collaborative enterprise in which the inner experience of the subject can be dramatically altered.27

The dramatic alteration of inner experience is precisely what cults hope to effect by their efforts. A predictable internal experience can be induced on willing participants and then cosmic, supernatural or spiritual significance can be ascribed to it. Then, what is actually a physiological process takes on a cosmic perspective. This is essentially what Lifton called "mystical manipulation": "If you do what we say, this good thing will happen, to you or in the universe." We would suggest that mystical manipulation is a prime pathway to the other seven criteria listed by Lifton. Profound control can then be achieved and maintained by appealing to the initial event of dramatically altered "inner experience. It is thus not without reason that, for example, cult recruiters tell their prospective converts to ask God for a "sign" as to whether their movement is the true path to enlightenment or their church the true church. Those who see the "divine light" or receive the "burning in the bosom" as a result of their earnest prayer easily interpret it as the sought-for "sign."

The Passantinos conclude this section with an apparent attempt at humorous sarcasm: "Do we really believe that what the Soviets couldn’t do to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn during years of forced labor and torture in the Gulag, Sun Myung Moon could have done by ‘love bombing’ for one week at an idyllic wilderness retreat?" In their support, they once again cite Bromley and Shupe, who express disbelief that "these diverse and unconnected movements had simultaneously discovered and implemented highly intrusive behavioral modification techniques."28The techniques of mind control, however, are not such that they must be studied and carefully and deliberately applied. It is thus not necessary to assume that cult leaders are more sophisticated than the "CIA, Russian, Korean, and Chinese highly trained and technologically supported experts." And more fundamental to thought reform than "behavior modification" is "milieu modification" (the former typically is brought about by the latter). Perpetrators of mind control are interested in followers who want to be under their control. They cannot use sound reasoning, intellectual precision of argument, and legitimate appeal to emotional sensibilities to hold followers. They must employ psychological and social coercion and manipulation of "inner experience" in order to prepare the seeker to follow blindly. In other words, those who have come to see must be blinded before they can be led.

We insist the authors have misunderstood the mind control model in their assertion that (according to mind control model proponents) brainwashing happens against a person’s will — that is not in fact what proponents of the model argue. The Bromley and Shupe quote only highlights this misunderstanding. Especially telling is their reference to "claims that such rapid transformation can routinely be accomplished by neophytes against an individual’s will." Again, the fact is the transformation is not against an individual’s will. He no longer sees things as he once did, he does not have adequate information to make an informed choice, and he has been manipulated emotionally to make the choice chosen for him by the cult. The cult recruit is brought to the point where he gives up his own will in order to be taught and directed by someone (the cult leader) who knows better than he. As former Children of God member Rick Seelhoff said in the Moore Report program "Thy Will Be Done",29 wanted to put myself over onto someone that knew better than I did... I willed to not will."

Lifton repeatedly shows that coercive persuasion can occur in the absence of physical restraint, and so the comparison between Moon and the Gulag is inapt. The authors should be comparing Moon vtith the revolutionary colleges in China discussed at great length and detail by Lifton.

The citations the authors offer throughout this section in evidence of the alleged contradiction in the writings of mind control model advocates do not support their contention. The Langone quote is not a rejection of any connection of mind control with brainwashing, as we read it; it is only a rejection of the misrepresentation of mind control model advocates as asserting that cult mind control produces mindless robots B la The Manchurian Candidate. Langone is not saying there is no connection, only that the extreme view is not representative of mind control model supporters. By the same token, the Passantinos misread Dr. Singer if they think she is "embracing" a brainwashing connection to mind control. We believe she would agree that there are significant differences between brainwashing and cultic mind control, while at the same time there are similarities.

OBJECTION: THE DETERMINISTIC FAULT

The authors’ objection as expressed in this section is also grounded on their fundamental misunderstanding of the mind control model. In short, the Passantinos misstate the fundamental concepts of mind control, imply that many counter-cult workers do not support the mind control theory and maintain that the mind control concept is counter to or incompatible with biblical Christianity. We have previously defined what we believe mind control to be and have contrasted this with the Passantinos’ formulation. And do their claims that many counter-cult workers do not support mind control have any justification? How have they determined this? We do not know of any polls taken on what views are held by counter-cult workers. In addition, truth is not decided on the basis of majority vote. And as for the position that the concept of mind control is Counter to biblical Christianity, we have already offered evidence, and will offer additional arguments, to demonstrate why we believe the two concepts are not incompatible at all.

Part of the marvelous power of the human mind is its ability to analyze information and make value judgments about that information. However, as with electronic "minds" (computers), its conclusions are only as good as the information it receives. When the mind receives erroneous information about a subject in the absence of correct information about that same subject, it will make erroneous value judgments. The mind can also discount its own abilities in favor of the abilities of another mind it believes to be more trustworthy. It will then tend to reject conflicting data, not because it is illogical or fails to correlate with previous experience, but simply because it does not line up with the external mind it has "freely decided" to trust. It has then made decisions about itself and the nature of reality that leave it no longer free in any meaningful sense.

The authors state that "many cults have made deceptive claims, used faulty logic, misrepresented their beliefs, burdened their followers with unscriptural feelings of guilt, and sought to bring people into financial or moral compromise to unethical demands. Yet it does not necessarily or automatically follow that these pressures, practices, or demands remove an individual’s personal responsibility for his or her actions."30 But choices that "have been predicated on something false"31 are not truly free choices. The outcome is predetermined by the skill of the information provider, not the ethical or even rational faculties of the agent making the "choice." What sense can be made of "free agency" when choices are based on false data? If "free choices" result in the agent’s being Cut off from any further source of information for a lifetime, is the agent free in any meaningful sense? Further, in what sense can an agent make a free choice to return to a life in which it will continue to be deceived? Might the agent’s capacity to make informed choices (his mind and will) be under the control of the one who controls the information? If an agent responds to personal experience or outside data on the basis of false information about the consequences of certain actions, is the agent making free choices when he rejects true data on the basis of lies? In what sense is such a person truly responsible for his or her decisions?

We are reminded of a couple of biblical passages. While hanging on the Cross Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."32 Jesus also said, "that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few."33 In other words, the moral responsibility taught in the Scriptures is based on how much one knows. If one has been deceived, if one has been pressured, if one has been denied access to information, or if the truth has been made to seem like a lie, then one is held either completely guiltless or regarded as only partly culpable. There is a degree of diminished capacity or less culpability than with the person who knew what he was getting into. We have yet to meet one person in 9 years of working in this field full-time who says, "I knew what I was doing; I knew I was joining a cult. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway." That is exactly what the Passantinos are attempting to force the ex-cult member to admit — "I knew it was wrong" and so if the ex-cult member denies that he knew it was wrong then the Passantinos are faced with the unfortunate dilemma of saying, "You are either lying or you’re deceived." The morally realistic response is to conclude that the Passantinos have defined mind control in an extreme way that makes the defense of mind control intolerable. As a consequence of holding this extreme view of the mind control model, they turn around and create an extreme view of human culpability with regard to joining cults which in our view is frankly unbiblical.

The Passantinos’ position, by way of extrapolation, would hold every battered wife responsible for ending up married to an abusive husband. To be consistent, the Passantinos would have to argue that these women knew what they were getting into. I [PRM] have explained the dynamics of thought reform to hundreds of former cult members and have asked them, "Did you know that this was what your group was doing when you decided to join?" The ex-members have all answered "No." I then ask them, "Would you have joined if you knew they practiced thought reform??? Again their answers were all "No."

We must take issue with the authors? conclusion in their statement quoted above. As already mentioned, there are degrees of culpability, even in biblical tradition. If a person has been lied to, defrauded, or pressured into doing something, there are consumer protection and other anti-fraud laws that offer recourse. There is major culpability on the part of the con man or cult leader, only minor culpability on the part of the person conned or the cult member, in situations like this. lack of knowledge has, throughout the history of law, been used to reduce a person’s culpability, and the same is true in the case of cultic deception and mind control. We feel Bob and Gretchen have confused bearing responsibility with facing consequences. An investor who is conned into committing resources to a fraudulent enterprise must face the consequence that those resources may never be recovered. The investor is in every sense a victim of the con. It is, however, not the investor but the con artist who is morally and legally responsible for the investor’s flawed decision. Those of us who are interested in encouraging legislation believe that those who use the free marketplace of ideas in a fraudulent way must also be held morally, and eventually legally, responsible.

In the current legal climate, a con artist who cheats investors out of $20,000 faces prison, fines, and/or Court ordered restitution, but a cult leader who precipitates wrongful death by discouraging or prohibiting medical care on the basis of false or misleading information faces no legal penalty. It seems the Passantinos would absolve the cult leader of his or her responsibility in such a case, laying it completely at the feet of the follower. The injustice of the present legal system, we hope, eventually will be rectified in spite of such reasoning, but the psychological damage caused by blaming the victim may never fully heal.

OBJECTION: THE DOUBLE BIND

The first paragraph in this section is puzzling. The authors write, "Hassan provides no means of knowing, testing, or proving whether people who are under emotional pressure, personal Stress, or actual deception are in fact not responsible for their actions or are not making free choices." It seems to us that it should be self-evident that such people are not making free choices. How can one make a free choice "under emotional pressure, personal stress, or actual deception"? Do we really need a test to determine this? This section on the double bind or circular reasoning is rather curious. The Passantinos assert that the exit counselor provides no proof to the cultist that his or her group uses coercive persuasion. The authors say, "If you leave the cult as a result of deprogramming (or exit counseling), that proves you were under mind control. If you return to the cult, that proves you are under mind control."

To illustrate the weakness of this objection let’s say there is documented, scientific proof that the local swimming hole is contaminated — there are chemical toxins in the water that will be absorbed through the skin, and if the local kids continue to swim there they will develop some serious neurotoxicity that may render them brain damaged or paralyzed. So you get the neighbors together and present them with evidence that they are in danger of being poisoned, and as a result of your information a lot of people leave the pond. The ones who don’t leave but go back and swim in it do so for various reasons. Maybe they don’t believe the evidence, even though it was overwhelming; or they say, "I don’t care, I like the swimming hole. I’m going to die anyway, I might just as well die here"; or, "Yeah, I know it’s poisonous, but so what, they’ll find a cure for it someday"; or, "I’m pretty tough. I don’t get sick much and it will probably kill everybody else, but it won’t kill me." The point is that the reasons people go back to the swimming hole are similar to the reasons an exit counselor would say cult members return to their cult — they still don’t see the danger.34

One problem with the Passantinos’ argument is that it assumes the exit counselor does not present objective facts when he asserts that the group in question does indeed practice mind control. In other words, the implication is that the exit counselor simply makes accusations without the kind of hard evidence to back them up that Robert Lifton had when he described the techniques and practices of the Chinese Communists. However, this implication is simply an assumption (or perhaps a presumption) on the part of the authors that is itself unsupported by evidence. It is the role of the exit counselor to provide the evidence that the organization in question has created an environment in which mind control does exist, and that the group member is being manipulated by that environment.

The authors are simply mistaken when they say, "The standard for determining mind control is not some objective evaluation of mental health or competency, but merely the assumed power of mind control the critic accords to the cult." However, exit counselors arrive on the scene with suitcases full of evidence. Good exit counselors will have documentation on the practices of the group and how those practices relate to principles of mind control. Such documentation may take the form of personal testimonies of former members of the group, relatives of members or former members, or of law enforcement officials who have investigated the group or otherwise had dealings with it. The documentation may be from news reports on the activities of the group, or the case notes of mental health professionals. Exit counselors will also have a history of how the cult member has changed his/her personality since joining the cult. Exit counselors will note the member’s reactions to their presentation of information about the group and its practices. For example, contrary information may be met by the cult member with a response such as, "All this stuff is just a bunch of lies of the devil." A good exit counselor will show the cultist that such remarks really do not settle the issue of whether the information is correct. The exit counselor will challenge the cultist to examme the evidence, to put the evidence to the test of veracity.

The next part of this section in the article has to do with definitional issues. The authors say that Ronald Enroth’s 1977 book, Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults, reflects a basic acceptance of the mind control model, and then they quote a recent letter from Enroth to the effect that he has not "had time nor inclination to update" his position in this area. We are a little troubled here by the Passantinos assertion that what they identify as Enroth’s "reluctan[ce] to be perceived as a mindcontrol-model-advocate" indicates that he has "problems reconciling a classic cult mind control model with other religious considerations..." We question this representation of Enroth’s position.

In the next few paragraphs the Passantinos quote some of the authors from the book Recovery From Cults, edited by Michael Langone35 — namely, Zimbardo, Andersen, and Galanti, Zimbardo, et al. do seem to muddy the waters a bit. It appears that sometimes they imply that mind control is a synonym for persuasion, and at other times it’s persuasion plus manipulation. The Passantinos are on target when they complain that we don’t define our terms well. We would insist that mind control is not simply a matter of influencing someone to do something against his will. It does include persuasion and manipulation. There is an element of deceit involved, and there’s an element of restricting information. We must not simplify the concept of mind control, because if we do we create something that will invariably get us into the dilemma of having, on the one hand, nothing but persuasion, or, on the other hand, nothing but some sort of technique that takes away the will. There is something in the middle, and it’s called mind control.

In regard to Galanti’s visit to a "Moonie indoctrination center, where, contrary to expectations, she was allowed plenty of sleep and food," etc., this is also what we would expect to find were we to make a similar visit, particularly if the Unificationists knew who we were. The visitor or new recruit is not usually permitted to observe the inner workings of most cults right away. Mind control is not only subtle, it is also gradual. The cult conceals its true nature from visitors and new members at first. In the case of the Peoples Temple newcomers were escorted into a separate room for introductory sessions, rather than to the sanctuary where Jim Jones was. Thus the new members could not witness what Jones was doing to the longer-term members, who had been subtly and gradually deceived and manipulated over a period of time.36

The Passantinos’ next paragraph is worth quoting:

A definition of mind control that removes its involuntary component is intrinsically at odds with the prevailing teachings of Singer, Hassan, Martin, and others that cult victims are unable to think for themselves or make decisions. Instead, it is more in agreement with the case we have been arguing — that cult members are capable of independent thought and rational choice, but because of factual arid spiritual deception, faulty presuppositions, fallacious reasoning, and improper religious commitments, they make unwise choices and adopt false beliefs instead.37

Again, there is a little truth with error here. We reiterate: we do riot believe Singer, Hassan, and others hold this robotic view of mind control that the Passantinos attribute to them — certainly, we do not. Further, the authors1 description of cult dynamics in the above quote fails to recognize that through spiritual deception cult members have been taught that "independent thought and rational choice" are "rebellious," "factious," "divisive," and/or "of the devil." This is not to say that cult members are totally incapable of independent thought — on the contrary, in many areas most are still able to make their own decisions; but these are typically areas in which the cult has not made rules or pronouncements. We would also expand the authors’ description of cult dynamics to be more specifically applicable to spiritually legalistic or restrictive cults. Such groups present a form of religious legalism (rule-keeping) which, through cunning and clever reasoning, a "spiritual leader" is able to persuade his followers is indeed the will of God. The cult member, convinced that this is of God, is driven by guilt and fear to the point of exhaustion. Such an environment can lead to severe depression, anxiety, or even, in some cases, nervous breakdown and attempted or successful suicide.38

In addition, how do the Passantinos know that cultists’ problems are solely because of spiritual deception, faulty presuppositions, fallacious reasoning, improper religious commitments, and unwise choices? Have they interviewed hundreds of ex-cult members? Do they have evidence? Where do they get this list? This sounds incredibly like "blaming the victim." If a person joins a cult, according to the Passantinos, he’s been spiritually deceived. Well, how do the authors know? Have they talked to him? The Passantinos may respond, "Well, yeah, we did, but he denies he’s deceived." So the Passantinos could end up in circular reasoning themselves. If the ex-cult member admits he was spiritually deceived, then the Passantinos are right. But if he denies he was spiritually deceived, the Passantinos are still right because it seems like they have embraced these beliefs about how people are lured into cults on the basis of their own presuppositions. Bob and Gretchen would say, "Well, they must be spiritually deceived." Maybe the question of why people join cults is an empirical issue that has to be decided by looking at the facts. If one looks at the facts in these cases, as I [PRM] have for nine years, these people are not simply spiritually deceived. They were searching for God, many were born-again Christians from good Christian homes, raised in evangelical churches. Some were graduates of some of the finest seminaries in our land, and yet they ended up in cults or abusive churches. We believe this poses a problem for the Passantinos.

The last paragraph in this section says that "mind-control-model advocates want to have the best of both worlds. They want to distinguish cult recruitment from normal socialization activities... But as soon as anyone asks for concrete evidence and qualitative definitions, mind control becomes just another term for the myriad forms of noncandid persuasion. To one degree, mind control is non-candid persuasion, but it entails much more than this, namely, a systematic program of changing one’s beliefs and behavior in a controlled environment through subtle and unethical manipulation. When people ask me [PRM] what a cult is, I give a very simple definition: a cult is a group that practices mind control, that has all the criteria of thought reform.

OBJECTION: THE BRAINWASHING EVIDENCE

In this section the authors argue that all the relevant literature shows that brainwashing is not particularly effective. This is very curious. Are the Passantinos saying there is no such thing as brainwashing, or are they saying there is brainwashing, but it doesn’t work very well? Are they saying, "Brainwashing does work, but only on a few people"? It seems like they have jumped from one thing, saying there can’t be any brainwashing because people have free agency, but on the other hand the research evidence says, "Yes, it works, but it doesn’t work ver" well." If it works on one in a million people, then there must be something to it. In other words, it seems like the Passantinos are suddenly jumping from presuppositional arguments against brainwashing of any kind to admission on empirical grounds that there is brainwashing of an involuntary, robotic Manchurian Candidate type, but that it doesn’t happen very often. Which way do the Passantinos want it? Do they discount brainwashing on biblical and other presuppositions? If so, then they can’t allow for even rare cases of brainwashing on the basis of empirical evidence.

They go on to State that basically a lot of the Koreans and Chinese used extreme forms of physically coercive persuasion, but very few individuals changed their basic worldviews and commitments. However, the footnote attached to this remark (number 36) quotes psychologist Gary Collins as writing, "Fewer than 15% of the prisoners in Korean detention camps collaborated with the enemy. When the war was over and prisoners were given their freedom, only a few chose to remain in Communist China. Of these, several later rejected the Communist way of life and returned home."39 The figure of 15% seems to us, however, to be staggeringly high considering that this was a time when the older brothers and uncles of these same soldiers had just overcome the "evil" Axis Powers. It was a simpler time when Americans "could do no wrong." In fact, so effective were these techniques that in Vietnam twelve years later, military intelligence warned troops not to resist them. Instead GI’s were told to do whatever it took to stay alive.40

Further, what about the huge numbers who were radically transformed in the revolutionary colleges mentioned earlier? What about the large segments of the Chinese Christian community that succumbed to Mao? What about the classified military experiments that were discontinued because those conducting them could not devise effective means to resist brainwashing?41 Why would mothers in Iran during the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime send their eight-year-old children into the mine fields to explode mines so that the soldiers could then cross the fields? History is replete with examples of this horrendously irrational behavior that people engage in when under the influence of mind control. We have talked to many women who, while members of the Children of God, willingly engaged in "flirty fishing" at the urging of their leaders. When they came Out of the group’s mindset they said, "I just can’t believe I did that. I wasn’t in my right mind." Any historian can document the most radical things that have ever been done in history, especially current history, had been done by men who had put masses of people under mind control. We only have to look at Hitler, Stalin, Khomeini, Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Jeffrey Lundgren. I [PRM] have heard hundreds of desperate parents tell me, "Our son isn’t the person we once knew. We don’t know what has happened to him." If mind control doesn’t exist or is ineffective, I would hate to see something that is effective.

The Passantinos state further that Korean and Chinese "techniques of torture, beatings, and group dynamics", and the CIA experiments with drugs, all failed to produce even one potential Manchurian Candidate, and the CIA program was finally abandoned. They have chosen the most infamous examples of failed attempts of using mind control, and then try to use them to debunk the effectiveness of all methods of mind control. This seems like another instance of the authors’ violating one of their own cautions from their book Witch Hunt, namely, "Similar Does Not Prove Same."42 They have failed to take account of West’s study of downed American pilots in Korea and how many of those were led to believe that the US was engaging in germ warfare — well over 50% of the American pilots not only signed statements that America was engaging in germ warfare over Korea, but they believed it. We don’t call 50+% success ineffective. If the Passantinos are going to Cite the mind control literature, they should cite all of it, including the studies that point to the remarkable successes of some mind control programs.

The Passantinos say, "Some mind-control-model advocates bring up studies that they feel provide objective data in support of their theories. Such is not the case. These studies are generally flawed in several areas: (1) Frequently the respondents are not from a wide cross section of ex-members..." This is not true in my own [PRM] studies; in fact, they never cited mine. I have now studied more than 300 people. I have people in my samples from a wide variety of different categories. The data is limited because controlled experiments would not be ethical. However, I have cited a number of good studies in the article "Post-Cult Symptoms as Measured by the MCMI Before and After Treatment."43

The Passantinos continue: "[A] disproportionate amount [of those included in studiesj are people who have been exit-counseled by mind-control-model advocates who have told them that they were under mind control" — again, not true. A good third to half of the people who come to Wellspring are walkaways and they know hardly anything about mind control. They just sort of figured out on their own that they were in a cult.