Anti-Cult Organizations: A Hidden Threat to Democracy

 

Do you think your rights and freedoms are safe? I thought so too, until I encountered the activities of certain anti-cult organizations, which conduct a systematic and covert operation to undermine democracy in the civilized world. That’s why I’m conducting my own investigation into the criminal activities of anti-cult organizations on my blog.

The history of these organizations takes us back to the United States. Founded in 1974, CAN (the Cult Awareness Network) was one of the leading organizations studying cult movements and providing support to their victims. Such were the declared goals and objectives. But what was really behind this facade? A banal criminal business scheme that harmed a vast number of innocent citizens.

As proven in a jury trial, CAN disseminated deliberately false, demonizing, and derogatory information about various religious and non-religious organizations, orchestrating their persecution in the media. CAN members widely used stigmatizing terms like “cult” and “destructive cult,” and they popularized the concept of “brainwashing” to instill fear. This was done to create a chain reaction of fear in society.

Wealthy parents, seeing their children becoming involved in new religious movements, turned to CAN for help, fearing for their offspring’s future. They received help for substantial sums of money. This process of “help” was called deprogramming.

CAN had a large roster of criminal individuals (deprogrammers) who kidnapped people, kept them locked up for weeks, sometimes months, applying severe forms of psychological and physical violence. Numerous victims testified about the violence, and the deprogrammers’ use of drugs and alcohol, as well as sexual harassment. Such procedures cost the clients large sums, most of which went to CAN as donations, allowing the organization to evade legal responsibility.

CAN’s appetite grew, and with it, the campaign to discredit various groups and organizations gained momentum. By the mid-1990s, CAN had dossiers on 1,505 groups, most of which were absurdly accused of cult tendencies: Roman Catholics, chiropractors, Protestants, creators of the board game Dungeons and Dragons, Lutherans, Mormons, the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, and others.

When the court seriously began to investigate CAN’s activities, it turned out that most of the accounting records had been destroyed. The remaining documents were in chaos, making them difficult to systematize and study. Nevertheless, even from these documents, numerous violations were evident: missing or duplicated records, large sums written off without expense categories, fake checks, and more.

After its closure in the U.S., some former CAN members decided to continue their activities in Europe. They used their connections and resources to create new organizations with similar goals but under different names. In the mid-1990s, the European community saw a “missionary activity” promoting concepts like “brainwashing” and “cults,” fostering artificial fear towards representatives of any religious minorities.

In some countries in Western and especially Eastern Europe, members of anti-cult organizations infiltrated high government positions and acted with impunity. The French organization FECRIS, for example, has close international collaborations with affiliated organizations in other countries and is funded by the French budget.

The real main goal of anti-cult organizations is political influence and total control over public opinion in all areas. They identify unscrupulous journalists willing to print defamatory articles for a fee. These journalists and corrupt editors become tools for manipulating public opinion, influencing elections, and discrediting political figures.

The activities of anti-cult organizations pose a serious threat to the foundations of democratic society. Their methods, disguised as benevolent intentions of help and protection, turn out to be tools for achieving selfish goals. The history of CAN in the U.S. and its subsequent migration to Europe demonstrate how criminal schemes can adapt and survive by changing only names and strategies. Combating such organizations requires joint efforts from law enforcement, state institutions, and civil society to prevent the further spread of their harmful influence and protect the foundations of freedom and democracy.

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