Leadership, Integrity and Mind Control

Leadership, Integrity and Mind Control
Leadership is where the "rubber meets the road" in determining if a group is a cult or not, harmful or not. Hassan raises discussion on various issues surrounding leadership and the way leaders deal with people, both as individual leaders and the group leadership as a whole. The issues discussed here strike to the heart of the integrity of the leadership and are perhaps the most important items to consider.

Abusive Practices
Hassan discussed a variety leadership techniques and practices that can only be called abusive. The chart below summarizes these (note: Hassan was formerly a member of the Unification Church, a.k.a. the "Moonies;" hence the references to Sun Myung Moon below):

Practice Hassan's Citation

- Singling people out publicly

- Keeping people off balance

- Fostering dependency
Moon had a novel style of motivating leaders. He would be nice to us at first, buying us gifts and taking us out for dinner or a movie. Then he would bring us back to his estate and yell and scream about how poorly we were performing.
Moon also liked to stimulate the highest degree of competition between leaders to maximize productivity. He would single out someone who was very successful at recruiting or fundraising (he did this with me), and present that person as a model of excellence, shaming the others into being more successful. It is ironic that where Moon's stated goal is to unify the world, many of his strategies foster jealousy and spite among leaders, virtually insuring a lack of unity (p. 23).

The chain of command in cults is usually authoritarian, flowing from the leader through his lieutenants to their sub-leaders down to the rank-and-file. In such a well-regulated environment, all behaviors can either be either rewarded or punished. It serves the leadership to keep people off balance. If a person performs well, he will be given public praise from higher-ups and sometimes gifts or a promotion. If the person performs poorly, he may be publicly singled out and criticized, and forced to do menial labor like cleaning toilets or polishing the other members' shoes (p. 61).

People are often kept off balance, praised one minute and tongue-lashed the next. This misuse of behavior modification techniques-- reward and punishment-- fosters a feeling of dependency and helplessness (p. 64).

Leaders of cults have come up with strikingly similar tactics for fostering dependency. They transfer members frequently to new and strange locations, switch their work duties, promote them and then demote them on whims-- all to keep them off balance. Another technique is to assign impossibly high goals, tell members that if they are "pure" they will succeed, and force them to confess impurity when they fail (p. 81).

- The "hot seat"

- Abuse of confession
During the late 1960s, a form of group therapy known as a sensitivity session became popular. In such a meeting, people were encouraged to speak about their most intimate personal matters with other people in a group setting. One technique widely popular at that time was the "hot seat," whereby a member of the group sat in the center of the circle while other members confronted him with what they considered to be his shortcomings or problems. Needless to say, without the supervision of an experienced therapist, such a technique opens up considerable possibilities for abuse (p. 38).
At this stage of unfreezing, as people are weakening, most cults bombard them with the idea that they are badly flawed-- incompetent, mentally ill, spiritually fallen. Any problems that are important to the person, such as doing poorly in school or on the job, being overweight, or having trouble in a relationship, are blown out of proportion to to prove how completely messed up the person is. Some groups can become quite vicious in their attacks on individuals, often humiliating them in front of the whole group (p. 68-69).

Confession of past sins or wrong attitudes is a powerful device for emotional control, too. Of course, once you have publicly confessed, rarely is your old sin forgiven in the true sense-- or forgotten. The minute you get out of line, it will be hauled out and used to manipulate you into obeying (p. 64).

Behaviors are controlled through rewards and punishments. Competitions are used to inspire and shame members into being more productive. If things aren't going well-- poor recruitment, media exposes, defections-- it is the members' personal fault, and their ration of "happiness" will be withheld until the problem is corrected. In some groups people are required to confess sins to be granted "happiness" and, if they can't think of any, to make some up. Ultimately they come to believe they committed these made-up sins (p. 81).

- Warped discipling

- Warped loyalty to leaders
A new member is often induced to abandon his former behavior patterns and become "dedicated" by being paired with an older cult member who serves as a model for him to imitate. The newcomer is urged to be this other person. Mid-level leaders themselves are urged to model their superiors, the cult leader himself being the ultimate model at the top.
One reason why a group of cultists may strike even a naive outsider as spooky or weird is that everyone has similar odd mannerisms, clothing styles, and modes of speech. What the outsider is seeing is the personality of the leader passed down through several layers of modeling (p. 81).

Comments about Abusive Leadership
It gives me no joy to say that I can think of times past when I have experienced many of these things referenced above. These are some of the darkest memories I have in life, and they happened in the church.

I have been publicly singled out by name and had sins that I privately confessed declared publicly with the intent of humiliating me.
Numerous times I have been kept off balance and had positions of service held over my head.
I have been blamed for things that were not my fault and then expected to confess to some "sin" of mine that was to blame.

Attempts to Justify Harshness
There is a temptation to point to incidents such as Jesus rebuking Peter publicly in Matthew 16:23 as a precedent for cruel and harsh treatment, but several important distinctions exist that should remove this incident from a place of precedence in the church:

In context, Peter denied that Jesus would suffer at the hands of the leaders; Jesus' rebuke addressed the heart of Jesus' mission of atonement for mankind in the face of temptation towards mere human influence and provided an occasion to teach about the nature of suffering in the kingdom of God.
This single incident is balanced by scores of other incidents in which Jesus was different, including the immediately previous event where Jesus had just recognized Peter's God-given understanding of His own identity. Those who see this event as a precedent for rough treatment in a public setting should consider whether they have the same ratio of positive and visionary interaction with others as Jesus, and if it can be said that they are without sin, as was Jesus.
Jesus was the one who rebuked Peter, not any of the other apostles. "Group discipling" that endeavors to use Jesus and the Twelve as a model rarely recognizes that Jesus alone was the one who did the discipling; He did not need nor permit the other apostles to "chime in."

Another passage sometimes used to divert attention from unrighteous actions by leaders is Psalm 141:5, which says "Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.." The point of this passage is the heart of the one willingly receiving harsh treatment and enduring it for the purpose of pleasing God in the long run; it is not a justification for harsh treatment on the part of a leader or the one giving direction.

Again, some are quick to quote Proverbs 27:17: "Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another." This Scripture is often followed with a remark about "sparks flying," suggesting turmoil and trauma in the interaction. Sharp interaction may be needed, but damaging and abusive interaction is not sanctioned by the passage. The one doing the sharpening-- whether an object or a person-- has to know the difference between constructive and destructive action. The end result proves what kind of action was taken.

Time for Clean-up
I present these here because these practices have been widespread throughout our churches in the past, and it is high time to put an end to these practices wherever they exist and clean up the mess such practices have created. Whatever the motive or desire, abusive, harsh and damaging treatment at the hands of trusted and respected spiritual leaders is wrong and cannot be justified, excused or ignored. I have seen enormous improvement in this area over the last decade in my local congregation, but it must be this way in all congregations.

I think there is more to an organization being a cult than the harsh, unkind and abusive treatment, like that I have experienced in the past. I can forgive sins committed with good intentions, but sins that are denied or excused in the name of "some higher good" need to be confronted. Fortunately, those responsible for the things I have experienced have apologized for their harshness and there has been healing in the relationship. The path to forgiveness is confession and repudiation-- for leader and follower alike, and love covers over a multitude of sins.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion (Proverbs 28:13).

Fortunately, I haven't seen some of these things at all in recent years nor in my current experience, but I have heard of some of these things still happening. I think it is fitting and righteous that the leadership of the church at its highest levels formally, explicitly and unambiguously repudiate all of these practices, and publicly apologize for instances where these have been practiced with harshness. The highest levels of leadership are ultimately responsible for these things, and they need to take responsibility for them. They cannot just dismiss them as isolated incidents nor allow twisting of the Scriptures to justify harshness, abuse and lack of love. Subsequently, individuals who continue in these practices should be severely reprimanded and/or dismissed from their positions of responsibility and trust. Lip service alone will not eradicate these behaviors. It is my hope that this discussion can be a positive force towards this end.

The "Only Plan That Works"
Hassan discussed a variety of traits of cultic groups centering upon their identity and mission. Hand in hand with leadership traits, these strike to the heart of the "cult" question. The chart below captures some of these traits, all centering on the notion that "the group is the only way":

Concept Hassan's Citation

- The only plan that works
- Phobia indoctrination
- Doctrine is reality "We (Moonies) would always make it sound as though we were the only organization with a plan of action that worked. (Even if it was objectively untrue, we believed it was true.) We would tell such people about all of the hundreds of programs we were sponsoring to fix and heal a "broken" world (p. 42).
Since the doctrine is perfect and the leader is perfect, any problem that crops up is assumed to be the fault of the individual member. He learns to blame himself and work harder (p. 63).

In some groups, members are systematically made to be phobic about ever leaving the group. Today's cults know how to effectively implant vivid negative images deep within members unconscious minds, making it impossible for the member to even conceive of ever being happy and successful outside of the group (p. 45).

- Elitism There is never room for pluralism. The doctrine allows no outside group to be recognized as valid (good, godly, real) because that would threaten the cult's monopoly on truth (p. 79).
Members are make to feel part of an elite corps of mankind. This feeling of being special, of participating in the most important acts in human history with a vanguard of committed believers, is strong emotional glue to keep people sacrificing and working hard (p. 80).

As a community, they feel they have been chosen (by God, history, or some other supernatural force) to lead mankind out of darkness into a new age of enlightenment. Cult members have a great sense not only of mission but of their special place in history-- they will be recognized for their greatness for generations to come (p. 80).

This feeling of elitism and destiny, however, carries a heavy burden of responsibility. Members are told that if they do not fully perform their duties, they are failing all of mankind. (p. 80)

Comments on "The Only Plan That Works"
The highest leaders of our movement like to refer to us as "The Movement of God." Certainly as members of the ICC obey God's plan, God is with them, they are "A Movement of God." But the identification as "The Movement of God" is frighteningly close to the trait of exclusivity Hassan identifies in cults.

Similarly, we often hear remarks to the effect "if we don't do it, who will?" Such remarks are not completely unreasonable motivational tools to get members to take their role in the world seriously (as God's people in fact are chosen by him for his work in the world), but the terms are needlessly exclusive of other groups (See a further discussion on this topic).

In the past, much has been made of the growth rates of our congregations compared to other religious groups. Compared to the charge to "Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 4:2), all of this comparing and self-congratulation is both unwise and irrelevant to being faithful to God. A couple of other passages come to mind:

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips (Proverbs 27:2).
"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." "Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you." (Luke 9:49-50)

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Conclusion
Since so much trust is given to the highest leaders in the church, they need to be completely above reproach in every area under consideration. Any circumstance that casts doubt upon their integrity casts doubt upon the integrity of the church itself.

There is a lot of good going on in the ICC that God is genuinely behind, and it is a shame to have these issues lurking under the surface discrediting the good things being done.

When questions of integrity arise, they key to maintaining integrity and trust is to respond properly when necessary. People are willing to give a benefit of a doubt on any number of issues, but when the integrity of the leadership is questioned, the leadership needs to make every effort to assure others that it merits the trust it has been given. When a leadership group loses trust and a good reputation, it is very hard to get them back.

End

Practice	Hassan's Citation
- Singling people out publicly - Keeping people off balance - Fostering dependency	Moon had a novel style of motivating leaders. He would be nice to us at first, buying us gifts and taking us out for dinner or a movie. Then he would bring us back to his estate and yell and scream about how poorly we were performing. Moon also liked to stimulate the highest degree of competition between leaders to maximize productivity. He would single out someone who was very successful at recruiting or fundraising (he did this with me), and present that person as a model of excellence, shaming the others into being more successful. It is ironic that where Moon's stated goal is to unify the world, many of his strategies foster jealousy and spite among leaders, virtually insuring a lack of unity (p. 23). The chain of command in cults is usually authoritarian, flowing from the leader through his lieutenants to their sub-leaders down to the rank-and-file. In such a well-regulated environment, all behaviors can either be either rewarded or punished. It serves the leadership to keep people off balance. If a person performs well, he will be given public praise from higher-ups and sometimes gifts or a promotion. If the person performs poorly, he may be publicly singled out and criticized, and forced to do menial labor like cleaning toilets or polishing the other members' shoes (p. 61). People are often kept off balance, praised one minute and tongue-lashed the next. This misuse of behavior modification techniques-- reward and punishment-- fosters a feeling of dependency and helplessness (p. 64). Leaders of cults have come up with strikingly similar tactics for fostering dependency. They transfer members frequently to new and strange locations, switch their work duties, promote them and then demote them on whims-- all to keep them off balance. Another technique is to assign impossibly high goals, tell members that if they are "pure" they will succeed, and force them to confess impurity when they fail (p. 81).
- The "hot seat" - Abuse of confession	During the late 1960s, a form of group therapy known as a sensitivity session became popular. In such a meeting, people were encouraged to speak about their most intimate personal matters with other people in a group setting. One technique widely popular at that time was the "hot seat," whereby a member of the group sat in the center of the circle while other members confronted him with what they considered to be his shortcomings or problems. Needless to say, without the supervision of an experienced therapist, such a technique opens up considerable possibilities for abuse (p. 38). At this stage of unfreezing, as people are weakening, most cults bombard them with the idea that they are badly flawed-- incompetent, mentally ill, spiritually fallen. Any problems that are important to the person, such as doing poorly in school or on the job, being overweight, or having trouble in a relationship, are blown out of proportion to to prove how completely messed up the person is. Some groups can become quite vicious in their attacks on individuals, often humiliating them in front of the whole group (p. 68-69). Confession of past sins or wrong attitudes is a powerful device for emotional control, too. Of course, once you have publicly confessed, rarely is your old sin forgiven in the true sense-- or forgotten. The minute you get out of line, it will be hauled out and used to manipulate you into obeying (p. 64). Behaviors are controlled through rewards and punishments. Competitions are used to inspire and shame members into being more productive. If things aren't going well-- poor recruitment, media exposes, defections-- it is the members' personal fault, and their ration of "happiness" will be withheld until the problem is corrected. In some groups people are required to confess sins to be granted "happiness" and, if they can't think of any, to make some up. Ultimately they come to believe they committed these made-up sins (p. 81).
- Warped discipling - Warped loyalty to leaders	A new member is often induced to abandon his former behavior patterns and become "dedicated" by being paired with an older cult member who serves as a model for him to imitate. The newcomer is urged to be this other person. Mid-level leaders themselves are urged to model their superiors, the cult leader himself being the ultimate model at the top. One reason why a group of cultists may strike even a naive outsider as spooky or weird is that everyone has similar odd mannerisms, clothing styles, and modes of speech. What the outsider is seeing is the personality of the leader passed down through several layers of modeling (p. 81).