Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults

by Ronald M. Enroth

Ronald Enroth, a social scientist, chronicled and documented the rise of cults in the Western life. Dr. Enroth probes the implications for church; what parent do; and deprogramming.

Genres: Cults

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Printable Tire]

This was the most depressing book I've read in a while, though I'm glad I read it, if only because it's the first book I actually own that I've read in a long time. I just bought it for like 10 cents, it was a discarded library book.

This book was FUCKED UP. Reading it was like reading a Philip K Dick novel in many ways, I became very paranoid about people and institutions and depressed about "spiritual searching" and religious institutions in general.

The First section of the book details in after-school, mundane formula the testimonials of ex-cult members of 7 cults popular and active in the 70's: The Hare Krishna Movement, the Children of God, The Alamo Christian Foundation, The Love Family, The Unification Church, The Way, and The Divine Light Mission. Each story is sadly similar: pseudo-hippie looking for answers is introduced to happy, helpful people with answers; at first they are skeptical, or even find the cultists creepy or corny; eventually they are suckered in by positive reinforcement, easy answers, or some seemingly "mystical energy" to join the cult. The cult then does numerous things to control their new slaves, including a regimented, exhausting daily schedule, sleep deprivation, poor dieting, constant surveillance, peer pressure, ritualistic indoctrination through praying and classes, etc.

Sometimes the cults, upon reading about them, seem relatively harmless to me at first, such as the Divine Light Mission or The Love Family, but things always end up ugly. Probably the worst cult of all was the Alamo Christian Foundation, run by two hucksters that look like Las Vegas rejects. Followers of this group worked brutal 20 hour days in fields so they might be saved, while like in all cult their leaders lived in an expensive estate. Most cult activity is depressingly mundane: the sum of day-to-day income is acquired through pyramid schemes, usually involving selling brochures or candy to passers by. Most cults use deceptive any-means-necessary approaches to getting monetary support. The cults teach lying as an acceptable form of selling since the worldly world is full of lies.

This book does not bring up the obvious cases against cults involving child abuse and molestation, as those things probably weren't well known in the 70's. The author is suspicious of Eastern religion in general, but more on that later. The major flaw of the cults was the "volunteer" totalitarian regimented lifestyles of the devotees, which required sole allegiance to one path and blocked out rational thinking, and the obvious class system that exists between Master and follower. Yet the book made it seem like anyone could get caught up in a cult, if pressured the proper way by experts in this sort of "love bombing" thing. It made me think of all aspects of society as cults in their own way. Aren't all corporations cults, or at least trying to be cults? Isn't the army a cult? This may all seem obvious or paranoid (depending on your political angle) but such was my emotional state when reading this book that these fears were re-realized. Each section ends with the post-coital situation of Ted Patrick, amateur deprogrammer, kidnapping the brainwashed saps and getting them to think again.

The Last part was the most fucked up, and what made the book really Philip K Dick for me. The author has taken an obvious slant against cults throughout the book, some may even say, for lack of a better term, a "right-wing" approach. Yet this did not prepare me for the final chapter, in which the author explains that all this cultist activity is the work of Satan, and that all these cults sprouting up are sure signs of the Apocalypse, and the work of the Devil trying to throw Christians from their faith. Lumped here, sort of haphazardly, is Eastern Religion in general, even though 5 out of 7 of the cults mentioned in the book are pseudo-Christian in their "beliefs."

While I might (believe it or not!) agree with the author's final claim, it was a real mind-fuck to have this be the final chapter of the book. It was like another layer of reality was being peeled away and the whole purpose of the book was to get you to join the "true" cult, Christianity. It gave me chills.

The 70's were a sick fucked-up time to be young and American.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to be prepared mentally to read this book, it's sad but an interesting read. The author describes some of the psychological and sociological aspect of this cult's recruitment and endoctrination. It's a well written book about these 6 cults and their practices to basically brainwash its members. He gives testimonials of 7 ex-cult members of 7 cults, the Hare Krishna , the Children of God, the Alamo Christian Foundation, The Love Family, The Unification Church, The Way, and The Divine Light Mission. Each story is horrifying but sadly similar. I never know about some of this cults until reading this book. I wish he made a bigger effort to make the reader understand the difference between cults and religion, brainwashing and conviction. I think he kind of over looked the child abuse and cruel practices in minors, its dark, it's very sad. I watched recently a documentary about a online cult...It seems so unbelievable to me that this still happens.

[Sam Boychuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated, but an enjoyable read - i wouldn't call it deep but it provided and interesting perspective into the method that cults use to project thier ideology

[Caelynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book interesting and insightful. That being said I feel as though it is now outdated and I wish they could have provided more examples than one per cult. Naturally the examples Enroth selected were extreme cases. This book provided me with excellent information for my research paper on brainwashing and cult like mentality associated with the Hare Krishna movement.