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*Paper presented at INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the HISTORY of RELIGION,

Children in New Religions: T he Question of H arm Susan J. Palmer Concordia University Montreal, Quebec. *Paper presented at INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the HISTORY of RELIGION, August 27, 2015 in Erfurt, Germany. Children in NRMs?.

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*Paper presented at INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the HISTORY of RELIGION,

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  1. Children in New Religions: The Question of Harm Susan J. Palmer Concordia University Montreal, Quebec *Paper presented at INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the HISTORY of RELIGION, • August 27, 2015 in Erfurt, Germany

  2. Children in NRMs? • Stereotypical portraits of “cults” in the media contradict the richness and complexity of research findings. • Sources of information: - media reports (scandals & controversy) - apostates’ accounts, second generation members’ memoires - scholarly studies on specific groups.

  3. Children in NRMsCritiques & dangers, real or imagined Forced Child Labor (House of Yahweh, Twelve Tribes, Tony Alamo Ministries) Participation in Missionary/Evangelistic Activities at expense an Education (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Children of God) Medical Neglect/ Alternative “Illegal” Medicine/ Refusal of Vaccinations (Ecoovie, Horus, JW’s, Christian Science, Anthill Kids) Psychotropic drugs (Centrepoint, Satanic Black Masses) Home schooling/ alternative education Disciplinary practices (spanking) Dietary laws (vegan diet, fasting)

  4. Childrearing/Childhoods in NRMs: Findings of researchers & historians A Remarkable Diversity - An extraordinary variety of approaches to childrearing, and different notions of “the child”. Experimentation – Self-conscious attempts to diverge from the mainstream, to try out extreme patterns that might not “work”. Mercurial Quality - rapid changes and revisions – NRM responses to both external or internal feedback or criticisms.

  5. Brainwashing model of conversionDr. Margaret Thaler Singer(psychologist & brainwashing theorist):“Parents in cults are middle management” Margaret Singer 1921–2003 Statement made at the American Freedom Foundation meeting, 29–31 1998, titled “Children and Cults”, Also, inCults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives, 1985. Singer’s “DDD” model of mind control (Deception, Dependency and Dread). `

  6. Brainwashing model of conversionextended to children of converts Brainwashing model of conversion parents children Cult leader

  7. Australia’s most notorious “cult”The Family was led by self-professed Messiah, Anne Hamilton-Byrne.Based in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, it traded on Christianity and a mix of Eastern and Western religious themes.

  8. “The child members of ‘The Family’ cult had an uncanny resemblance to the children portrayed in the 1960 film the ‘Village of the Damned’.”

  9. Typologies of NRMsRoy Wallis’ 3 Types,based on orientation to larger society World Rejecting groups Characteristics: communal, sectarian, millenarian messianic leader, authoritarian, voluntary labour, donations evangelistic Aim: collective salvation Radical, religiously validated patterns of family and gender World Affirming groups Characteristics Social organization as an apprenticeship leaders are teachers of techniques membership is fluid students pay fees Aim: individual’s quest for power, health, material benefits Children may or may not be included as apprentices

  10. Jiddu Krishnamurti, presumed “World Teacher” of the Theosophical Society, circa 1910 • Messianic children “I would have died.”

  11. Fritz Peters, author of Boyhood with Gurdjieff Fritz Peters, 1924 George Gurdjieff Memoires of a boy growing up in Gurdjieff's community, le Prieuré at Fontainebleau

  12. Oneida Perfectionists1848 -1881 John Humphrey Noyes, “Third Coming of Christ” The “Stirpicults” in 1887 Eugenics experiment, alternative to the sin of “philopropagativeness”

  13. Pierrepont Burt Noyes 1870-1959, author ofMy Father’s House: An Oneida Boyhood, 1937 Pierrepont B. Noyes, John Humphrey Noyes’ 4th son. Education: the Children’s House, Colgate University. Married his cousin, .fathered three children BUSINESS SUCCESS 1895 - Director of the Oneida Community Ld. in Niagara Falls.  1928 – Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate 1919 - Head of the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission 1933 - President of the Saratoga Springs Authority

  14. Children as MissionariesJehovah’s Witnesses

  15. Children of God/The FamilyEndtime literature • Junior Endtime Teens (JETs) will play key role in Battle of Armageddon (1980s-90s)

  16. Children Cast in Messianic Roles Solar Temple grandmaster Joseph di Mambro & “Avatar” daughter, Emmanuel

  17. Children in NRMscritiques & dangers, cont. Separation/ Alienation from Biological Parents: - “Defamilialization” in Communal NRMs - “Sequestration” & Abductions (Our Savior's Independent Christian, Twelve Tribes, Sullivanian Institute) - “De-fooing” (Stefan Molyneux’s show on Freedomain Radio)

  18. Negative results of “defamilialization” • Separation of biological parents from children increases risk of poor health supervision & medical negligence. • Entrusting children to the guru and his/her boarding schools has proven harmful. Ecoovie(Jacques Godbout, 1994). Sahaja Yoga (Coney, 1998) ISKCON (Rochford, 1998). The Sullivanians (Siskind, 1998).

  19. William Norman of Ecoovie BornPierre Maltais,1937 Founded Ecoovie,1978 Paris Primitive nomadic “tribes” in Europe. Rejected medical care, Deaths resulted. In 2003 chargedwith Sequestration des enfants.

  20. SAHAJA YOGA Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi’s school in India

  21. The SullivaniansNew York City, 1957-87 People Against Cult Therapy (PACT) Support group of ex-members & concerned relatives. Barbara Antmann standing resolutely outside of building belonging to eccentric pyschotherapy cull. Her sister is a member of this cult, dedicated to destroying ties to the nuclear family.

  22. Defamilialization:APOSTLES of INFINITE LOVEJean-Gaston Tremblay“Pope Gregory XVII” 1971 Catholic Bishops denounce Apostles of Infinite Love for heresy. 1970s - Custody battles, 3 police raids, hunts for missing children. 1978 the mystical pope condemned to two years in prison for “sequestration” of children. 1984 - Media focus on two brothers who escaped from monastery in 1984. 1999 - Brothers claim sexual abuse. Charges dismissed as no evidence. J-G Tremblay, mystical pope 1928-2011

  23. List of state raids on children Group TargetedYearNo. of Raids Doukhobors (B.C., Canada) 1953-57 3 FLDS (Texas, U.S.) 1944, 1953, 2008 3 Twelve Tribes ( USA) 1984 1 (Germany, Spain & France) 2o13, 2014, 2915 3 Children of God/The Family ` 1991-1993 7 (Argentina, France, Spain, Australia) Apostles of Infinite Love (Quebec, CA) 1966, 1978, 1999 3 Ogyen Kunzang Choling (France, Belgium) 1997 2

  24. The Doukhobors (British Columbia, 1950s) • Rationale for raids: to rescue children from illiteracy, Canadian children have a right to education. • Doukhobors perceived as an anarchistic, illiterate “Communist” group • Legal repercussions: 1932 Public Nudity Act (jail term, 3 years) • Conflict intensified by the Sons of Freedom • Aftermath in 1980s: a class action suit

  25. Issue: LiteracyDoukhobors “Sons of Freedom” 1952, arson, ritual nudity in B. C.

  26. 1984 raid on the children of Island Pond, Vermont Twelve Tribes parents arriving at courthouse

  27. Twelve Tribes in Basen Farm, VT

  28. MOVE/ OnaMove 1985Radical anarchist religious commune, MOVE bombed by Philadelphia police, killing 11 people (5 children) and destroying 65 houses in the neighborhood

  29. Birdy Africa, sole child survivor of MOVE bombing Birdy Africa taken into custody in police car.

  30. MOVE children at a rally on May 17, 2007, in Philadelphia. Succeeding generations of MOVE children learn about the 1985 atrocity and continue to demonstrate for animal rights activists, the MOVE and Jamal al Mumia.

  31. What do NRMs contribute to society? • Bromley & Robbins (1993) argue that NRMs function in society as “forums of experimentation” offering new business and social models. • Radical, utopian childrearing methods may be “tried out” then discarded in NRMs. • NRMs may predict new trends, or contribute new pedagogical ideas and models. Example: Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy & the Waldorf schools.

  32. Conclusion • There is a need for more research into how children are influenced by sexual innovations, cultural influences, styles of charismatic leadership in NRMs. We need to focus on family models, initiations, age sets, gender roles. • Problems of sectarianism, emerging internal doctrines, the private, hidden nature of suspected abuse. • Recommendation: more communication between secular authorities and administrators of NRMs; to better to understand their cultural practices, to educate parents in NRMs, to better understand their cultural practices and to prevent internal abuse and external persecution.

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