2023-06-09 15:33:24
But, ¿cWhat are the characteristics of a cult and how do people fall under its influence?? Lebo Diseko, BBC Global Religion correspondent, spoke to a man who was once a member of a cult and now dedicates his life to helping people get out of them.
Hassan now describes the group he belonged to as a teenager as a dangerous cult.
The man, who at the age of 19 joined the Unification Churchsays that the experience of leaving the religious group was“like waking up from a nightmare.
“I was very ashamed,” he says.
Followers of the Unification Church were called “Moonies” by their critics, referring to the group’s former leader, the pastor Sun Myung Moonwho died in 2012.
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, as this group is now called, insists that it is a “bona fide religion” and not a sect, but Hassan assures that his experience shows the opposite.
While the exact definition of a cult is controversial, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton identifies three characteristics. It must have a charismatic leader who becomes a cult object. There has to be a process of coercive persuasion, called “brainwashing.” And its members must be victims of economic, sexual exploitation o of another kind by part the members of the same group.
Hassan says he was recruited by the Unification Church “gradually.”
First, he was approached by a group of young women in the university cafeteria. Since his girlfriend had recently “abruptly dumped” him, Hassan felt vulnerable and flattered by the attention.. “I remember asking them if they were part of a religious group. They told me ‘no, not at all’. It turned out to be a lie.”
He then began a process of “love bombing,” giving him affection to draw him into the group and to manipulate him, Hassan says. At that time, they invited him to dinner and told him that they wanted to introduce him to “our friends from all over the world.”
Finally, they invited him to attend a talk where they told him that they were going on a trip. “You should come, it’s going to be so much fun“.
It was that weekend that “they got into my head,” says Hassan. “It was a special moment in history, at the gates of a Third World War between Russia and the United States, there were various spiritual proposals going around“.
Later, they taught him their other beliefs. Among them, Hassan says the group’s leader, North Korean-born Pastor Moon, introduced himself as “the Messiah, greater than Jesus” and said that Koreans were “the superior race”.
Although Hassan had been born into a Jewish family, within three months of joining the Unification Church “came to believe the Holocaust was justified”. “He was totally radicalized,” he says.
The Church strongly denies these claims. “There is no suggestion in the group’s teachings that the Holocaust is justified.” In addition, they say they have “many members who were also born and raised as Jews.”
The religious group said there was “no suggestion” in their teachings that Reverend Moon “was greater than Jesus” or “that Koreans were some kind of ‘master race.'”
The Church also denies using love bombing, saying that while Church members would go out and talk to students, they “they were quite open and there was no cheating involved.o“.
Hassan says that at that time he dropped out of university and became one of the leaders of the group. even helpedfrom to add to news faithful.
To do this, he evaluated potential new members based on whether they were “thinkers, feelers, doers, or believers.” in order to use the appropriate speech to convencelos.
“If someone belongs to the group of those who feel, we will talk about love and how nice it is to have brothers and sisters who take care of each other. Doers are people who want to fix things and have an impact. In the case of believers, the approach was spiritual: “Let’s pray together and ask God to open your heart.” The strategies changed according to the person“.
The departure of the sect
Hassan was a member of this sect during two years and a half. The situation changed after a car accident, while he was in the hospital, when he had time to be alone and call his sister.
She asked him to come visit him, promised to take care of him, and reminded him that she had a nephew he could spend time with.
What he didn’t know was that she he had organized a session behind his back to rescue him. The sister made her listen to the stories of other people with similar experiences, who had gone through the same thing and who had managed to break free.
“I cried. I thought ¿how could i believe this?, ¿what happened to my mind?“.
The Unification Church says Hassan’s views on the group are “distorted, wild, disturbing, inaccurate and unreliable”, and that the accusation that the group became increasingly extreme “doesn’t make any sense”.
Also from the Unification Church reject accusations of brainwashing. They say the allegations “appear to have been used as a convenient if unsubstantiated way to explain why someone would join a religious group.” And they claim that the term “Moonies” is used to “denigrate and ridicule the Unification Church.”
However, for Hassan, his time in the Church -and his departure from it- led him to dedicate the following decades to help people to release to their loved ones from the sects. He is now a certified consultant and cult expert.
He says that there are things that should be done and others that should not be done when approaching someone you want to help.
“There is no need to shout, attack the leader, the doctrine or the group.” He says this behavior can cause people to redouble their defense of their belief system. Rather, he suggests adopt an attitude of curiositysaying: “I know you are smart, you seem very interested in this, tell me more”.
If the person isn’t able to fully explain the group’s beliefs, Hassan says it can suggest a pause that can be taken advantage of. “VLet’s investigate it together. VWe love to find out who they are“.
“If you are ever in a situation where nothing makes sense and everything is confusing, trust yourself, trust your own judgment, and looks for scientific ways of testing reality to check things“.
hassan says that no longer uses the confrontation method to rescue to the faithful because without the person’s acceptance any attempt to leave the group is likely to fail.
In addition, he says that cell phones make it nearly impossible to cut off someone’s communication with a group, unless the person agrees. “If they’re on the phone all day talking to the sect, there’s no way to be effective.”
Hassan focuses on helping the family and loved ones of the victim, what he seeks is “enable thes personas for you to thinkn By herselfsto make your own decisions.”
“For example, I will tell a family member to ask their loved one who is in a religious sect to sit down and watch the documentary “The Social Dilemma on Social Media,” that it is not going to make them defensive. or feel attacked. But it’s a way to start a discussion about the tactics used to manipulate people’s attention.”
Hassan argues that life changes, such as bereavement, moving, or, in his case, a breakup, can make a person more susceptible to the influence of a dangerous group.
But it claims that The biggest mistake people make is thinking it could never happen to them..
He calls it “the malleable mind myth: [la idea de que] ‘my mind can’t change. Someone else’s yes, but I’m too smart or too good. “We are programmed to fit in with others, to follow authority figures we believe to be legitimate.”
Hassan has now come full circle in his faith journey. He did it 26 years ago, when it became part of a progressive Jewish temple. “What I like about Judaism is that it’s a questioning religion,” he says.
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