Scottish Cult Information & Support

Introduction

The Scottish Cult Information Network aims to warn people of the side-effects of the cult panaceas on offer in today's Scottish spiritual marketplace, and to give support for those who have already suffered from involvement. We are a secular and informal group, run by volunteers with experience of such organizations. We do not direct people to any church or movement, and are motivated solely by fellow feeling for Scots folk who might be vulnerable to such groups.

Cults in Scotland

This isn't California, the folk are cannier and survivors of several centuries of religious strife. However, as in any society, there are people who are more vulnerable than others to cultic groups - especially the young, the recently bereaved, and the idealistic. Groups can exhibit cultic behavious to different degrees - even within the same group, there may be a liberal fringe around an inner circle of control. Obversely, there may be isolated wee congregations of bigger churches, perhaps with a charismatic minister, that would qualify if they became recognized as groups in their own right. Black and white judgements are difficult to make (unless you're in a cult, when they're very easy!) and discretion is needed.

Some of the groups active in Scotland which in our experience and judgement are to some degree cultic include:-

• Findhorn Community
• Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO)
• Humanist Movement (New Humanism, Siloists)
• Jehovah's Witnesses (Watchtower, IBSA)
• Scientology
• Transcendtal Meditation

N.B. Many of these groups also appear other names, often with no apparent religious connection. For example, World Without Wars, Green Future, The Community and The Humanist Party are Siloist fronts, as is the local Glasgow University Humanist Society, behind the Scottish Consumers' Association for Natural Foods is TM, and more obviously the Hubbard Research Centre in Edinburgh puts out Scientologist propaganda. The anti-environmentalist New Humanists have gone further by deceptively standing as the 'Green Party' in UK elections. It is also usual for this type of group to play down their fringe-ness, so the uninformed will confuse the FWBO with traditional Buddhism or New Humanists with the very respectable British Humanist Society.

Some of the practices with harmful social, emotional or physical effects include:

• Social exclusion, breaking of normal social/familial ties
• Total excommunication of dissident or misbehaving members
• Reverence for a founding figure or central group who are sole dispensers of truth
• Medical restrictions
• Halluncinatory imagery, fostering of a paranoiac attitude to the rest of the world
• Taboos on higher education, individual thinking
• Degrading or dismissive attitude to women
• Wanting your money - in donations, tithes, expensive books

We don't seek to limit anybody's freedom to do any of these things. On the contrary, we stand for the freedom of all - of people to choose the religion and practices they wish, without fear of retribution from others. And we also try to be around to pick up the pieces when some of those experiments with what looked like freedom go wrong.

Contacting Us

We understand the need for complete confidentiality, and will respect your anonymity and privacy. Feel free to contact us, either by:

Pager (JW only): 076543-144-10 (Witness Aid UK)

Frequently Asked Questions

Cults? Don't you mean NRMs?

Yes, NRM (New Religious Movement) is the present fashionable euphemism for cultic groups. Like other euphemisms, it doesn't make the unpleasant side of the phenomenon go away (and is rather unfortunate for genuine and non-abusive new religions!). Equally, cults (or NRMs if you prefer) have become a popular area of study for sociologists, and sometimes a general sense of solidarity with non-mainstream groups can have a remarkable effect on academic disinterestedness - as witness the cosy CESNUR gatherings, and the uncritical way in which supposed experts recycle old and discredited myths (as the Edinburgh academic who retold in The Scotsman in 1998 as fact the urban legend of anti-cult groups kidnapping cult members and with astonishing naivete compared leaving a cult to 'switching jobs'). With real life experience, we prefer to call spades, spades.

For more on cult apologists, academic or personal crusaders, read the internet FAQ on the subject.

Are you trying to recruit 'cult' members to your own religion?

This group has no religion. Individual volunteers have their own faiths, or are humanist, but the group itself is secular, non-demoninational. There is, however, some basis for the suspicion, since a great deal of effort is put into attacking cultic groups by members other religions whose principal aims are recruiting for their own little sect or stamping out what they see as heresies. These form the stereotype of counter-cult activity of which the lazier sociologists are fond. What the stereotype masks, however, are the many small grassroots groups that have no ideological stance, but are founded on the basic human empathy, the drive to help others avoid making one's own mistakes and help those who have already done so.

Doctrinal disputes belong in the Middle Ages, don't they?

Everyone is entitled to believe whatever bizarre notions pleases them. This group has no doctrinal position to be disagreed with, and respects the right of all people, in whatever cults, groups or parties, to think at complete liberty. Our concern is not with interpretation of Holy Writ or counting angels on pins, but the social and emotional damage which such groups can cause. And that's not a theoretical worry, but something we know all too well first hand.

Isn't this another part of 'victim culture'? If people can't handle a religion, shouldn't they just leave and shut up?

This is reverse cry wolf syndrome: merely because some people cry wolf, does not mean that all people do so. And very often, people who leave cults do anything but make a fuss - usually the experience is bottled up inside them, since they feel (often rightly) that nobody else would be able to understand how they feel or what they went through. Being able to meet people who've had the same experiences can bring a sense of liberation to people who've kept it to themselves for many years. And for those in the throes of exit, the real possibility of suicide or mental distress is diminished, if an informed listening ear is available.

By their nature, cultic groups limit the association an individual has with people outside the group. Friendship, values, world view tend to the hermetic. When someone leaves, it can be like emigrating from a homeland as a refugee - losing all friends (to the extent that they may not acknowledge your existence on the street) and often family or business partners too, at the same time as having many basic beliefs and value systems shaken. The longer a person is involved, the more traumatic the exit may be.

For other questions on the nature of cults, and specific information on support groups, please follow up the links below:

More information on the Internet

Copyright (c) 1998 Scottish Cult Information and Support

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