In Reply to: Is exposing heresy "religious persecution"? posted by Donny on August 27, 2003 at 11:20:35:
I think that people have different ways in which they would like to contribute to ex-member recovery and/or prevention of involvement by target youth or influential people in society attracted to cults and what they "offer". In destructive cults like the Family there is definite criminal nature to it. Some might focus more on providing healing venues or resources for those exiting. Some on prevention and education about cults so that people that are more vulnerable to cults (youth for example) aren't so easily drawn in. Some may go after the family to expose or "dismantle" them. I don't see any of this as "religious persecution". If the religion is based in criminal and mind control techniques regarding their followers, this "persecution" is brought on by the Family themselves. Some might just focus on their own personal recovery. I don't see any of those options as "wrong".
While it is true that I would not want to harm a child still in, or an adult still in who are under the influence of the cult-think, exposing the group and its practices is often effective in making a person THINK outside of their bubble of cult life. Would I want to call the place someone works and out them to cause them to get branded and followed thru life with the "cult" member tag, even when they leave? No. But if their job was to promote videos to Christian TV stations, knowing their policies and who those videos would target, and who they would support, I would have no problem writing to the station to express my concerns. While the videos may be harmless in and of themselves, the children that watch them may eventually grow up with a fondness for the candy coating that will hook them into the poisonous pill (control, abuse within the Family) in the long run. And those same videos give the Family an innocuous appearance. Not to mention that they give the family a stamp of approval of sorts in the Christian community at large. I think most here are in agreement that the Family is anything but innocuous.
When it comes to people going after others that have specifically abused them, that is their legal right, and that ball is in their court. The court process can often be more damaging than good to an individual. I would highly recommend that any individual planning prosecution would seek professional support in order to be able to deal with the many facets of taking the issue into the public arena. This being said for the interest of the survivors/victims.
It is not illegal to practice mind-control. Little is understood by the average professional about how destructive it is in some groups like the Family. But it is very comparable to domestic violence and there is lots of support out there for survivors of that. As well as resources to help them get independent and on their own feet.
So articles written on what is not illegal, but what is abusive are great, imo.
If the family got rid of all their sex doctrines but still had the "mama" syndrome of dependence on the leader for what to believe, think, how to act, be, etc, it would still be extremely destructive and emotionally and spiritually abusive.
So I think that warrants education and prevention and exposure. In the case of exposure, I look at it from a standpoint of how I would view a drug addict. It does not help them to set them up and get them busted and sent to prison for 25 plus yrs. It does not help them to force them to tell on all their contacts. It does help them to focus on treating their illness and helping them to get on their own feet, independent from the drug and to clean up their own side of the street and any wreckage they have caused that can possibly be cleaned up as they are able to deal with it. And in the process they leave that lifestyle behind.
But if an active addict is selling their drug (or video tapes) in my neighborhood, I can choose to tell them what those drugs (teachings) did to me and offer them a route out, ignore them, yell and scream at them, form a vigilante committee, call the police... on and on.
The point is, it is about choice now. I don't consider someone is not doing all they can if they are not yelling and screaming when their adult children are in. Especially knowing contact might be cut off. That is a very personal issue, imo. It is not my circumstance, and I have only empathy for those who are dealing with that.