Introduction:
Events in the last few decades have clearly indicated
just how dangerous some religious and secular groups (usually called "cults"
by those opposed to them) can be to their own members as well as to anyone else whom
they can influence. "Brainwashing," beatings, child abuse, rapes, murders,
mass suicides, military drilling and gunrunning, meddling in civil governments, international
terrorism, and other crimes have been charged against leaders and members of many
groups, and in far too many cases those accusations have been correct. None of this
has been very surprising to historians of religion or to other scholars of what are
usually labled "new" religions (no matter how old they may be in their
cultures of origin). Minority groups, especially religious ones, are often accused
of crimes by members of the current majority. In many ways, for example, the "Mormons"
were the "Moonies" of the 19th century -- at least in terms of being an
unusual minority belief system that many found "shocking" at the time --
and the members of the Unification Church could be just as "respectable"
a hundred years from now as the Latter Day Saints are today.
Nonetheless,
despite all the historical and philosophical caveats that could be issued, ordinary
people faced with friends or loved ones joining an "unusual" group, or
perhaps contemplating joining it themselves, need a relatively simple way to evaluate
just how dangerous or harmless a given group is liable to be, without either subjecting
themselves to its power or judging it solely on theological or ideological grounds
(the usual method used by anti-cult groups). In 1979 I constructed an evaluation
tool which I now call the "Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame,"
or the "ABCDEF," a copy of which was included in that year's revised edition
of my book, Real Magic (Samuel Weiser Pub., 1989). I realize its shortcomings, but
feel that it can be effectively used to separate harmless groups from the merely
unusual-to-the-observer ones. Feedback from those attempting to use the system has
always been appreciated. Indirect feedback, in terms of the number of places
on and off the Net this ABCDEF has shown up, has been mostly favorable. For example,
it was chosen by and is now displayed on the website of the Institute for Social
Inventions, who paraphrased it for their "Best Ideas -- A compendium of social
innovations" listing.
The purpose of this evaluation tool is to help
both amateur and professional observers, including current or would-be members,
of various organizations (including religious, occult, psychological or political
groups) to determine just how dangerous a given group is liable to be, in comparison
with other groups, to the physical and mental health of its members and of other
people subject to its influence. It cannot speak to the spiritual "dangers,"
if any, that might be involved, for the simple reason that one person's path to
enlightenment or "salvation" is often viewed by another as a path to
ignorance or "damnation." As a general rule, the higher the numerical
total scored by a given group (the further to the right of the scale), the more
dangerous it is likely to be. Though it is obvious that many of the scales in the
frame are subjective, it is still possible to make practical judgments using it,
at least of the "is this group more dangerous than that one?" sort. This
is if all numerical assignments are based on accurate and unbiased observation of
actual behavior by the groups and their top levels of leadership (as distinct from
official pronouncements). This means that you need to pay attention to what the
secondary and tertiary leaders are saying and doing, as much (or more so) than
the central leadership -- after all, "plausible deniability" is not a
recent historical invention.
This tool can be used by parents, reporters,
law enforcement agents, social scientists and others interested in evaluating the
actual dangers presented by a given group or movement. Obviously, different observers
will achieve differing degrees of precision, depending upon the sophistication of
their numerical assignments on each scale. However, if the same observers use the
same methods of scoring and weighting each scale, their comparisons of relative
danger or harmlessness between groups will be reasonably valid, at least for their
own purposes. People who cannot, on the other hand, view competing belief systems
as ever having possible spiritual value to anyone, will find the ABCDEF annoyingly
useless for promoting their theocratic agendas. Worse, these members of the Religious
Reich will find that their own organizations (and quite a few large mainstream
churches) are far more "cult-like" than the minority belief systems they
so bitterly oppose. It should be pointed out that the ABCDEF is founded upon both
modern psychological theories about mental health and personal growth, and
my many years of participant observation and historical research into minority belief
systems. Those who believe that relativism and anarchy are as dangerous to mental
health as absolutism and authoritarianism, could (I suppose) count groups with
total scores nearing either extreme (high or low) as being equally hazardous. As
far as dangers to physical well-being are concerned, however, both historical records
and current events clearly indicate the direction in which the greatest threats
lie. This is especially so since the low-scoring groups usually seem to have survival
and growth rates so small that they seldom develop the abilities to commit large
scale atrocities even had they the philosophical or political inclinations to do
so.
The Advanced Bonewits' Cult
Danger Evaluation Frame
(version 2.0)
Factors:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Low
High
1 INTERNAL CONTROL:
Amount of
internal political power exercised by leader(s) over members.
1
_____________________________
2
WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s); amount of infallibility declared or implied about
decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations.
2
_____________________________
3 WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural
interpretations made by leader(s).
3
_____________________________
4
DOGMA: Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility
or "fundamentalism."
4
_____________________________
5 RECRUITING:
Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing.
5
_____________________________
6 FRONT GROUPS: Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of
main group.
6
_____________________________
7 WEALTH: Amount of
money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members'
donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary
members.
7
_____________________________
8 POLITICAL POWER: Amount
of external political influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members'
secular votes.
8
_____________________________
9 SEXUAL MANIPULATION:
of members by leader(s); amount of control exercised over sexuality of members;
advancement dependent upon sexual favors or specific lifestyle.
9
_____________________________
10 CENSORSHIP: Amount of control over
members' access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s).
10
_____________________________
11 DROPOUT CONTROL: Intensity of efforts
directed at preventing or returning dropouts.
11
_____________________________
12
VIOLENCE: amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s).
12
_____________________________
13 PARANOIA: amount of fear con- cerning
real or imagined enemies; perceived power of opponents; prevalence of
conspiracy theories.
13
_____________________________
14 GRIMNESS:
Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).
14
_____________________________
15
SURRENDER OF WILL: Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible
for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group,
its doctrines or its leader(s).
15
_____________________________
16 HYPOCRISY: amount of approval for other
actions (not included above) which the group officially considers immoral or unethical,
when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate
group's declared rinciples for political, psychological, economic, or other gain.
16
_____________________________
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Low High
Copyright © 1979,1996, 1999 c.e., Isaac Bonewits. This text file may be freely distributed on the Net, provided that no editing is done, the version number is retained and this notice is included.
Last Updated November 17, 1999