Cults
General Overviews:
Anti-cult and Counter-cult Movements
Excellent page of discussion and links on both the Christian counter-cult and the anti-cult movements.
Views on "Cults":
American Family Foundation
AFF is a resource for those coming out of "destructive cults." They publish a newsletter and one of the few scholarly journals dealing with the cults - The Cultic Studies Journal. Mind control model based anti-cult group.Cult Awareness and Information Centre - Australia
Jan Groenveld's (ex-JW, mormon) site with lots of material on "cults," "mind control," and issues facing those leaving cults. Mind control model based.Free Minds
Randy Watters'(ex-JW) site on JWs "and other authoritarian religions." Supports the mind control model.Cesnur
Website of the Center for the Study of New Religious Movements. Debunks Mind Control model and supports groups like JWs against the counter-cult and anti-cult movements.
Brainwashing, Mind Control Models:
Pro:
Understanding Mind Control
Former Moonie and exit counselor Steven Hassan's home page. Author of Combating Cult Mind Control..Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
Chapter 22 of Robert J. Lifton's book on mind control. Lists the marks of brainwashing or "mind control."Cult Awareness and Information Centre - Australia
Jan Groenveld's site with lots of material on cults, mind control, etc.Social Psychology and Group Dynamics
Article by Jan Groenveld on mind control. Uses JWs as an example.Brainwashing, Thought Control and the Cults
Article from Jan Groenveld's site (Cult Awareness, Australia).A Study of the Persuasion Techniques of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower
Con:
Cesnur
Website of the Center for the Study of New Religious Movements."Brainwashing': Career of a myth in the United States and Europe
Paper delivered by Dr Massimo Introvigne of CESNUR at the CESNUR-REMID conference held in Marburg, Germany, on March 27-29,1998.Anti-cult and Counter-cult Movements
Excellent page of discussion and links on the counter cult and anti-cult movements.
Recovery Issues:
Phobias and Anxiety
An article on one person's experience with panic attacks and anxiety which afflicts many former "cult" members.Overcoming Anxiety
A second article by author of the above.Anger Article on dealing with anger and using it for good.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Pro:
The Watchtower
The Watchtower Society's official web site.Jehovah's Witnesses: A Desktop Reference
What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?
A pro JW propaganda page of text from Watchtower Society literature.Mining Co. Guide to Jehovah's Witnesses
A pro-JW page with some material from the MP Technologies website which was shut down by the suggestion/pressure of the Watchtower Society. Has links to personal web pages of JWs, news articles that mention JWs, etc.
Pro (reform minded):
New Light on Blood
Web site of the Associated JWs for Reform on Blood which is dedicated to changing the Society's policy on blood transfusions.The Report
(TWMC) Site by reform minded JWs (Two Witnesses Must Come)
Con:
Free Minds, Inc.
Randy Watters' web site. Former "Bethel" headquarters worker. A must see.Watchtower Observer
Huge Norway site on JWs. A must see.Beacon For Jehovah's Witnesses
BRCI's web site.Comments From the Friends
David Reed's web site.Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses
Timothy Cambells's site.Watchtower Victims Memorial
Site dedicated to those who have died as a result of the Watchtower's blood transfusion policy.Free in Christ
An Australian ex-JW support group. Distributes the JW Research Journal in Australia.The Truth About Jehovah's Witnesses
New! Research on JWs
New! Watchtower Information Service Good Netherlands site with daily news reports from around the world, articles, etc.
JW Teachings and Christian Teachings Compaired:
New! Reasoning with Jehovah's Witnesses Kevin Quick's book online comparing JW teachings with a list of Scriptures on each topic. From his personal Bible studies which led him to reject Watchtower teachings.
Other JW Related Sites:
HourGlass 2
Discussion forum by JWs, ex-JWs and interested on controversial topics related to JWs.Jesus-Witnesses
Web site of the email discussion group.Women-Awake
"a private, email list for ex-JW women, (and other interested women, who's lives or family's lives have been touched and hurt by the WTS), is available for friendship, support and encouragement from other such women."Other links to JW related sites (Freeminds' link page)
Bible Students Links to various "Bible Student" web sites.
Fundamentalism
|
"Fundamentalism" Defended and Attacked:
Fundamentalism Speech by the atheist, Madalyn O'Hair on the history of "Fundamentalism."
Why Fundamentalism Must be Wrong Article defining "Fundamentalism" as a totalist, bigoted and intolerant group. Definitions could apply to the author himself by the time he gets done! (it's simply a matter of the degrees of "intolerance" one shows and who has the one "true religion" everyone should believe and be taught, etc.)
Fundamentalism, Modernism and the New Evangelicalism Article by a "Fundamental Baptist" on the evils of the liberal wing of Evangelicalism.
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind Book review of the book by Mark Noll on the "anti-intellectualism" in Evangelical circles (Fundamentalism especially).
More Scandals of the Evangelical Mind Sometimes humorous response to Noll's book and the response to the book in Evangelical circles.
Anti-evolution, Biblical literalist, Christian "Fundamentalists"
Fundamentalism
This page defines Fundamentalism in four categories: political, theological, cultural and global. Is perhaps the best overview of some definitions of Fundamentalism I have found on the net. Gives links to Christian Fundamentalist churches such as Southern Baptists, anti-fundamentalist pages and sites.Institute for Creation Research
Web page of the "Creation Science" organization.Creation Research Society
Another major young earth "creation science" organization. Publishes Creation Research Quarterly.The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Book review of the book by Mark Noll on the "anti-intellectualism" in Evangelical circles (Fundamentalism especially).
Rebuttals and second looks at some common fundamentalist stereotypes:
Ignorant Armies
Book review by Mark Knoll in First Things of The Creationists: The Evolution Of Scientific Creationism by Ronald Numbers. Numbers' book is a scholarly look at the history of "scientific creationism" (young Earth, "Flood Geology" creationism). Shows that scientific creationism sprang from Seventh Day Adventism and has only recently influenced "Fundamentalist" churches (Baptists, Assembly of God, etc.). Most Evangelicals and "Fundamentalists" before and shortly after the Scopes trial did not believe in a young earth, etc. as is usually assumed today.The Truth About Inherit the Wind
A First Things article about the inaccuracies of the movie on the Scopes trial and a recent Broadway revival of the play by Tony Randall's National Actors Theater.Chapter and Verse: A Skeptic Revisits Christianity
Book review by Phillip Johnson about an atheist "skeptic" who attends a "fundamentalist" Christian college as an observer. He expected "lock-step" conformism and other "fundamentalist" stereotypes. What he found was a "liberal" education on competing world-views by teachers, as contrasted to typical politically correct secular US campuses.Daniel Dennet's Dangerous Idea
Book review by Philip Johnson of Daniel Dennet's book, Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Robert Searle's ideas as well. Discusses Dennet's Materialist fundamentalism and desire to indoctrinate children with it. "Our future well-being--the well-being of all of us on the planet--depends on the education of our descendants," he says.More Scandals of the Evangelical Mind
Sometimes humorous response to Noll's book and the response to it in Evangelical circles.Pomo Science
Phillip Johnson reviews the postmodernist hoax in Social Text magazine, similar approaches to Biblical criticism, and the book The End of Science by John Horgan, etc.
Fundaphobia:
The Anti-fundie fundies
A look at those who attack "fundamentalism" in various forms, but don't seem much different to me from those they're attacking.
|
Why The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion Must be Wrong
Article defining "Fundamentalism" as a totalist, bigoted and intolerant group. Such definitions could apply to the author himself by the time he gets done! (it's simply a matter of the degrees of "intolerance" one shows to others and who really has the one "true religion" everyone else should believe and be taught in order to be a decent human being, etc.) As one reviewer said about this article:"This article is found on the home page of Scott Bidstrup who describes himself as a "secular humanist liberal gay cowboy." In this and other articles on his site, Bidstrup attacks fundamentalists for being intolerant while dishing out a good bit of religious bigotry of his own. This is a good example of an abundance of anti-fundamentlist materials on the Internet."
I agree. It's a good example of what I call "fundaphobia." I thought I was original in calling it that but lo and behold, someone else thunk it up before I did and wrote and article on it called, "Fundaphobia--The Irrational Fear of Fundamentalism." Contention. 5: 3. (Spring ) 127-32.
Answering the 'virtuecrats': Shut up he said
First Things review by Gary Hardaway of the book, Answering the "Virtuecrats": A Moral Conversation on Character Education by Robert Nash. Examines the self-refuting, self-righteous postmodernist rejection of traditional morality and "character education".Fundamentalism
Speech by Atheist fundie, Madalyn O'Hair on the history and evils of of "Fundamentalism." Lots of bigoted, intolerant and plain ignorant comments by O'Hair directed at those bigoted, intolerant and unintelligent fundies.Daniel Dennet's Dangerous Idea
Book review by Philip Johnson of Daniel Dennet's book, Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Robert Searle's ideas as well. Discusses Dennet's Materialist fundamentalism and desire to indoctrinate children with it. "Our future well-being--the well-being of all of us on the planet--depends on the education of our descendants," he says.The Truth About Inherit the Wind
A First Things article about the inaccuracies of the movie on the Scopes trial and a recent Broadway revival of the play by Tony Randall's National Actors Theater. Shows the movie to be self-serving apologetics propaganda. Contains typical caricature of creationists by evolutionists fundamentalists.Defending Darwin: How far is Too Far?
Article on Scientific American at first wanting to hire a certain science writer to write the Amature Scientist section -- until they found out he was a Christian who didn't believe in Darwin's theory. They then tried to back out their commitment to him and his writing.What (if anything) Hath God Wrought?
Phillip Johnson reviews the Dean Kenyon case, where a professor in Biology got into trouble with his university after he gave up on Darwinism and a Materialist origin of life and started advocating "intelligent design" as a possibility that should be discussed in science. Of course, some of the Darwinist faculty assumed he was preaching some kinda "scientific creationism" in the classroom and wanted him removed.Scientific Correctness in San Fransico
Steven Myer on the Dean Kenyon case.Measuring Political Correctness
Los Angeles Times article on a poll done by the National Science Foundation. The Foundation's poll questions imply if you don't believe evolution is a fact, you're scientifically illiterate.Is God Unconstitutional?
Law professor Phillip Johnson looks at a Los Angeles Times article, the Dean Kenyon case and other things looking at the bigotry and intolerance shown to those who oppose or even critisize Darwinism (he should know!).The Science of Evolution and the Politics of Creation: Steven J. Gould in Alabama
An Origins and Design commentary on Gould's visit to the University of Alabama after a flap over an "insert" in Biology textbooks there. The insert encouraged students to look at problems with Darwinism, not just the typical evidence cited for it. No mention of any form of creationism was made in the insert, it just brought up problems in the fossil record for the theory not mentioned in the book, such as the Cambrian explosion(which wasn't even mentioned in the Alabama text books on biology!). Gould came to the rescue with an anti-Fundamentalist (Creation Science) speech at the University of Alabama, delivered in the typical manner of the "fundamentalist" he mistakenly thought was behind the insert.Challenging Darwin's Myths
Article in Origins and Design by Mark Hartwig on Darwinian fundamentalism and the enforcement of the theory as dogma in public schools.Planting a Seed of Doubt
"Skeptics [atheists] should forego any thought of convincing the unconvinced that we hold the torch of truth illuminating the darkness. A more modest, realistic, and achievable goal is to encourage the idea that one may be mistaken. Doubt is humbling and constructive; it leads to rational thought in weighing alternatives and fully reexamining options, and it opens unlimited vistas." And that's just how the article starts! I would fall off my chair in disbelief if these "skeptics" published an article skeptical of Materialist ideas such as spontaneous generation (origin of life scenarios), etc, like they do spontaneous combustion, etc. From Skeptical Inquirer.
"Fundamentalist" Christian Churches I
[These are some of the Christian denominations that are are usually called Fundamentalist as they are typically anti-evolution "fundamentalists" Christians AND are viewed by proponents of the mind control model as psychological/sociological "fundamentalist" groups (cults) or that members tend to suffer from the negative effects of "mind control" or "coercive" methods the groups tend to employ.]
Boston Church of Christ
United Pentecostal Church
Potter's House
God Lives in Brooklyn: Jehovah's Witnesses as a Model of Fundamentalist Psychology
Chapters of a book on line.
"Fundamentalist" Christian Churches II
[These are some of the Christian denominations that are usually called Fundamentalist by evolution proponents as they are typically Biblically conservative, anti-evolution Christians but not to be confused with psychological/sociological "fundamentalist" groups (cults) that use "mind control." Confused yet?]
Southern Baptist Site defines Southern Baptist beliefs.
Lutheran (Missouri Synod)
Assemblies of God
Foursquare
Independent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA)
Back to Links page
