Is Your Religious Organization Free From Cultic Tendencies?
Gillie Jenkinson, PhD
Is Your Religious Organization Free From Cultic Tendencies?
Gillie Jenkinson, PhDD
Are your leaders fully accountable to a board
Is loyalty to yourself and your family placed second to loyalty to your R/S
Are questions and suggestions encouraged
Does your leader/s readily admit errors
Does your leader/s imply they have special powers or are specially chosen
Are the practices of your R/S deemed more important than the individual members
Would outsiders understand the language or is it cliquey
Are you expected to dissociate yourself from all your experience gained before joining your new R/S
Do you feel that those outside your group are less valuable than members of your R/S
Do you view those who have left negatively
Does your R/S see itself as the most important R/S
Are teenagers and young people respected and loved even if they decide to leave behind their parents R/S
Are individuals encouraged to follow their own career path rather than one expected of them
Are pleas for money rare and unemotional
Are you expected to live in a communal house or specific area
Do your children enjoy participating in your R/S
Is there a diversity of class, race, dress styles, ages and occupations in your R/S
Do individuals express different personality types or do all the members seem to have similar personalities
Are people allowed to come to their own conclusions about R/S issues
Is there a single behavioural standard for all members
Are you free from fear
Are you allowed to leave whenever you want and still be in contact
Is there pressure to lend money to leaders for personal or business use
Is there pressure to have sex with others
Are you able to say no to practices you do not agree with
Do you comply with practices that you do not agree with
Do you have sex with people you do not want to have sex with
Do you feel you have lost yourself
Are you restricted in what you are allowed to read, watch on TV etc.
Does your leader seem both brilliant and irrational
Are ex-members harassed, stalked and threatened
Is being emotional treated as weakness and neediness rather than respected
Are you encouraged to ‘drink of the spirit and don’t think’
Is your spiritual leader the only route to God or a higher spiritual plane
Have you become dependent when you used to be independent
Has your self esteem and confidence reduced since joining your R/S
Do you feel you were pressured to join your R/S initially
Were you recruited by being ‘love bombed’
Were you offered free services only to discover you had to pay high prices later
Score 5 or less and you are ok
Score 5-15 – there are areas you should watch out for
Score 15-25 – serious problems get help fast
Score 25+ - leave now for your own sake and encourage others to leave too
Put together by Gillie Jenkinson – www.hopevalleycounselling.com with inspiration and thanks to Larry Pile, Wellspring Retreat and Resource Centre and Rosanne Henry and Sharon Colvin, www.cultrecover.com.