| Type | Professional body |
|---|---|
| Industry | academic scholars |
| Genre | cults, religion, psychology |
| Founded | 1979, as American Family Foundation, renamed 2004 |
| Founder(s) | Kay Barney |
| Headquarters | Florida, United States |
| Area served | global |
| Key people |
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., executive director |
| Products | Cultic Studies Review |
| Owner(s) | non-profit |
| Website | http://www.icsahome.com |
The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), formerly the American Family Foundation, describes itself as an "interdisciplinary network of academicians, professionals, former group members, and families who study and educate the public about social-psychological influence and control, authoritarianism, and zealotry in cultic groups, alternative movements, and other environments."
The current executive director is psychologist Michael Langone. The ICSA currently provides education and assistance regarding groups they identify as cults. It publishes the journal Cultic Studies Review.
Contents |
ICSA began in 1979 as the American Family Foundation (AFF). It was founded by Kay Barney, the retired Raytheon International Affairs Director,[1] whose daughter had become involved with the Unification Church. Barney wished to address the field professionally and scientifically and so founded AFF as a non-profit tax-exempt organisation for research and education.[2] It was directed by a Board of directors of which Barney was part.
Initially, nearly everybody who contacted AFF for help did so because he/she had a child involved in a group the parent was concerned about. AFF's role was to bring these parents into contact with helping professionals, increasing numbers of whom became interested in and/or involved with AFF as time passed.[3]
The AFF received funding from the Bodman and Achelis Foundations and the Scaife Family Foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife.[4] The Scaife Family Foundation has given over a half million dollars to the AFF.[5]
In 1980/81 AFF joined forces with John Gordon Clark, a Harvard psychiatrist who had undertaken research in the field of New Religious Movements, and his team, to which Michael Langone belonged.
In 2004, the organization took the name International Cultic Studies Association, "to better reflect the organization's focus and increasingly international and scholarly dimensions".[6]
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., Executive Director of the ICSA, states that "A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing, and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control designed to advance the goals of the group’s leader, to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community...Although many cult members eventually walk out on their own, many, if not most, who leave cults on their own are psychologically harmed, often in ways they do not understand. Some cult members never leave, and some of these are severely harmed. There is no way to predict who will leave, who won’t leave, or who will be harmed."[7]
The ICSA offers assistance and education relating to such groups:
The John G. Clark Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Cultic Studies, is an award created by the American Family Foundation in honor of noted Harvard psychiatrist, John Gordon Clark, M.D.
In 2004, the International Cultic Studies Association created the Margaret Singer Award in her honor. Philip Elberg received the award in 2004 for "his work in advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion and undue influence".[12] Arnold Markowitz received the award in 2006, for "26 Years of Helping Families and Ex-members".[13]
Notable members of the International Cultic Studies Association include[14]:
Some of the previous advisors of the AFF have included Dr. Louis Jolyon West and Margaret Singer.
Present notable people on the ICSA Board of Directors include:[15]
Directors
Notable members of the Executive Advisory Board of the ICSA include:[16]
In their 2009 book, Cults and New Religions: A Brief History, sociologists Douglas Cowan and David Bromley describe the ICSA as a "secular anticult" organization. They point out that the ICSA provides no indication of how many of their so-called characteristics are necessary for a group to be considered "cultic." The checklist creators do not adequately define how much of certain practices or behaviors would constitute "excessive," nor do they provide evidence that any of the practices listed are innately harmful. Finally, Cowan and Bromley criticize the ICSA list as being so broad that even mainstream organizations such as Evangelical Protestantism, the Roman Catholic Church, Buddhism and Hinduism fall within the criteria[17].