Cult-watching group

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Individuals Cult and NRM researchers

Organizations CESNUR Cult Awareness Network Cult-watching group Fight Against Coercive Tactics FREECOG Int'l Cultic Studies Assoc. MIVILUDES Reachout Trust

Opposition Anti-Cult Movement Christian countercult movement Opposition to cults and NRMs

Theories / Methodologies Brainwashing Cult checklists Deprogramming Exit counseling Mind control Post-cult trauma

Related Apostasy Bigotry Charismatic authority Groupthink Occult Religious intolerance True-believer syndrome Witch hunt Freedom of religion Universal Declaration Human Rights Freedom of Expression Religious freedom by country This box: view • talk • edit

A cult-watching group (CWG) is an organized or grass-roots assemblage of people who observe and comment on the largely marginal, often unpopular new religious movements which are often labeled "cults".

These groups generally fall into the following categories:

• anti-cult (movement) - Accuses NRMs of using "mind control" to recruit and retain membership
• counter-cult (movement) - Primarily concerned with the heresy of the NRMS, but somewhat allied with anti-cultists.
• researchers - sociologists of religion, psychologists, and other scientists who study the NRMs. Some support the CWGs and some criticize them.
• mind control debunkers - Assert that joinging an NRM is an uninfluenced freewill decision, and that choosing a religion is a matter of right

Professor Eileen Barker divides cult-watching groups into 5 types:

"cult-awareness groups (CAGs); counter-cult groups (CCGs); research-orientated groups (ROGs); human-rights groups (HRGs); and cult-defender groups (CCGs)." [1] Her concept of "cult awareness" is more complex than the "anti-cult" category described above. (see her article)

Professor Barker has been accused of being a cult apologist[2].

[edit] External links

• A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups