The 'Christian countercult movement', also known as 'discernment ministries' is the collective designation for many mostly unrelated
ministries and individual
Christians who oppose religious groups whose doctrines or practices do not fit within their definition of mainstream
Christianity. They often call these groups "
cults". [all of these terms and information are unofficial not from scholars on the issue, which is what is
spiritual abuse ].
Protagonists often come from an
Evangelical or
fundamentalist background, although some are former members of non-mainstream groups. While a considerable proportion of those who identify with the Christian countercult are
Protestant Evangelicals, there are also
Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox and
Ancient Oriental Orthodox groups critical of "cults".
In each case, the countercult group claims the authority to define "true" Christianity, thus to define "false" Christian cultism. Christian apologists who write from within this movement argue that a religious body may be defined as a "cult" if its doctrines involve a denial of the teachings which they hold to be Christian (e.g., the doctrine of the
Trinity, the person and work of Christ, salvation, and so on).
It should noted that some "countercult" groups actually consider other such groups to be non-Christian, due to disagreements over doctrine or the use of a different translation of the
Bible. Many of the Protestant groups consider Catholicism to be cultish, due to beliefs regarding the
Pope and
Mary. An extreme example, the
Westboro Baptist Church, considers nearly all other churches to be cults, due to a perceived lack of sufficient condemnation of
homosexuality and homosexuals.
Countercult literature usually expresses doctrinal or theological concerns and a
missionary or
apologetic purpose. It seeks to identify problems with a given group's teachings or practices and present a rebuttal emphasizing doctrinal discernment in a mainstream Christian vein. Christian countercult writers also emphasize the need for the evangelization of followers of "cults", and often present advice and strategies on how Christians may evangelize.
Their activities and orientation vary: some are
missionary and
apologetically oriented, directed at current members of divergent groups, some are therapeutically oriented, directed mainly at former members of divergent groups, and others educally oriented, directed at members of their own denomination or at the general public.
A more radical arm actively protests and attempts to disrupt meetings of churches which they have labeled as "cults."
Countercult ministries concern themselves mainly with religious groups that regard themselves as Christian, but hold one or more beliefs which they consider to be unorthodox, including
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the
Unification church,
Christian Science, and
Jehovah's Witnesses, although some also target newer and older non-Christian groups, such as
Islam,
Judaism,
Wicca,
Neopagan groups,
New Age groups,
Buddhism,
Hinduism, and other Eastern religions.
The Christian countercult movement, with its emphases on apologetics and evangelism, does not constitute the totality of concerns which many Christians have about cult practices. Some Christians share concerns similar to those of the secular
anti-cult movement.
History
Precursors & pioneers
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of non-orthodox movements throughout church history. In the Protestant traditions some of the earliest writings opposing unorthodox groups like Swedenborg's teachings, can be traced back to
John Wesley,
Alexander Campbell (Restoration movement) and
Princeton theologians like
Charles Hodge and
Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield. The first known usage of the term "cult" by a Protestant apologist to denote a group is heretical or unorthodox is in ''Anti-Christian Cults'' by A. H. Barrington, published in
1898.
Quite a few of the pioneering apologists were
Baptist pastors, like I. M. Haldeman, or participants in the
Brethren, like William Irvine and Sydney Watson. Watson wrote a series of didactic novels like ''Escaped from the Snare: Christian Science'', ''Bewitched by Spiritualism'', and ''The Gilded Lie'', as warnings of the dangers posed by cultic groups. Watson's use of fiction to counter the cults has been repeated by later novelists like
Frank Peretti.
The early twentieth century apologists generally applied the words "
heresy" and "
sects" to groups like the
Christadelphians,
Mormons,
Spiritualists, and
Theosophy. This was reflected in several chapters contributed to the multi-volume work released in
1915 ''The Fundamentals'', where apologists criticised the teachings of
Charles Taze Russell,
Mary Baker Eddy (
Christian Science), the
Mormons and Spiritualists.
Mid-20th century apologists
Since at least the
1940s, the approach of traditional Christians was to apply the meaning of ''cult'' such that it included those religious groups who use other scriptures beside the Bible or have teachings and practices deviating from traditional Christian teachings and practices. Some examples of sources (with published dates where known) that documented this approach are:
★ ''The Missionary Faces Isms'', by John C. Mattes, pub.
1937 (Board of American Missions of the
United Lutheran Church).
★ ''Heresies Ancient and Modern'', by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.
1948 (Marshall Morgan & Scott, London/Zondervan, Grand Rapids).
★ ''Cults and Isms'', by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.1962, 1969, 1980 (Arrowsmith), ISBN 0-551-00458-4.
★ ''The Chaos of Cults'', by J.K.van Baalen, pub. 1938, 1944, 1960, 1962 (Eerdmans)
★ ''Heresies Exposed'', by W.C.Irvine, pub. 1921, 1975 (Loizeaux Brothers).
★ ''Confusion of Tongues'', by C.W.Ferguson, pub. 1928 (Doran & Co).
★ ''Isms New and Old'', by Julius Bodensieck.
★ ''Some Latter-Day Religions'', by G.H.Combs.
One of the first prominent countercult apologists was
Jan Karel van Baalen (
1890-
1968), an ordained minister in the
Christian Reformed Church in North America. His book, ''The Chaos of Cults'', which was first published in 1938, became a classic in the field.
Walter Martin
Historically, one of the most important protagonists of the movement was
Walter Martin (1928-89), whose numerous books include the
1955 ''The Rise of the Cults: An Introductory Guide to the Non-Christian Cults'' and the
1965 ''The Kingdom of the Cults: An Analysis of Major Cult Systems in the Present Christian Era'', which continues to be influential. He became well known in conservative Christian circles through a radio program, "The Bible Answer Man", currently hosted by
Hank Hanegraaff.
In his 1955 book, Martin gave the following definition of a cult:
:"By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith."
As Martin's definition suggests, the countercult ministries concentrate on non-traditional groups that claim to be Christian, so chief targets have been
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Jehovah's Witnesses,
Christian Science and the
Unification Church, but also smaller groups like the
Swedenborgian Church
However, many of the claims made by Martin, intended to give him an air of authority, have been proven wrong over the years. These included his use of the title "Doctor," claims of being a descendant of
Brigham Young, and having inherited Young's "secret library," and of holding ordination from one or another "mainstream" Christian church. Those who rely on Martin's works now downplay these claims while accepting the "expertise" which they bolster.
Various other conservative Christian leaders—among them
John Ankerberg and
Norman Geisler—have emphasized themes similar to Martin's. Perhaps more importantly, numerous other well-known conservative Christian leaders as well as many conservative pastors have accepted Martin's definition of a cult as well as his understanding of the groups to which he gave that label. (Compare this definition with ''
heresy''.)
Other technical terminology
Since the
1980s the term "new religions" or "
new religious movements" has slowly entered into Evangelical usage, alongside the word "cult". Some book titles use both terms.
The acceptance of these alternatives to the word "cult" in Evangelicalism reflects, in part, the wider usage of such language in the
sociology of religion. However, there is no unanimity about whether these terms are synonyms.
"Countercult apologetics" as accepted term
The term "countercult
apologetics" first appeared in Protestant Evangelical literature as a self-designation in the late
1970s and early 1980s in articles by
Ronald Enroth and David Fetcho, and by Walter Martin in ''Martin Speaks Out on the Cults''. A mid-1980s debate about apologetic methodology between Ronald Enroth and J. Gordon Melton, led the latter to place more emphasis in his publications on differentiating the Christian countercult from the secular anti-cult. Eric Pement urged Melton to adopt the label "Christian countercult", and since the early 1990s the terms has entered into popular usage and is recognised by sociologists such as
Douglas Cowan.
The only existing umbrella organization within the countercult movement in the USA is the
EMNR (Evangelical Ministries to New Religions) founded in 1982 which has the evangelical
Lausanne Covenant as governing document and which stresses mission, scholarship, accountability and networking.
Countercult outside the USA
While the greatest number of countercult ministries is found in the United States of America, ministries exist in
Australia,
Brazil,
Canada,
Denmark,
England,
Ethiopia,
Germany,
Hungary,
Italy,
Mexico,
New Zealand,
Philippines,
Romania,
Russia,
Sweden, and
Ukraine. A comparison between the methods employed in the USA and other nations discloses some similarities in emphasis, but also other nuances in emphasis. The similarities are that globally these ministries share a common concern about the evangelization of people in cults and new religions. There is also often a common thread of comparing orthodox doctrines and biblical passages with the teachings of the groups under examination. However, in some of the European and southern hemisphere contexts, confrontational methods of engagement are not always relied on, and dialogical approaches are sometimes advocated.
A group of organizations which originated within the context of established religion is working in more general fields of cult-awareness, especially in Europe. Their leaders are theologians, and they are often social ministries affiliated to big churches. Among them are
★ Protestant: the Berlin-based
Pfarramt für Sekten- und Weltanschauungsfragen[1] ("Pastoral ministry for Sects and World Views.") headed by
Thomas Gandow [2], the Swiss "Evangelische Informationsstelle Kirchen-Sekten-Religionen" (Evangelical information service on Churches, Sects and Religions) headed by
Georg Schmid [3],
★ Catholic:
Sekten in Sachsen (sects in Saxony)
[4] and ''Weltanschauungen und religiöse Gruppierungen'' ("Worldviews and religious groups") of the Austrian diocese of Linz
[5], and GRIS in Italy
[6]
★ Orthodox: Center of Ireneus of Lyon in Russia.
Some independents like the international
Dialog Center, and Anton Hein's
Apologetics Index [7] in Amsterdam are Evangelical Christians. Hein considers
Scientology a hate group because that religious movement has, in his opinion, a long, documented history of hate and harassment activities
[8], which—along with lying and deception—are condoned and encouraged in Scientology's own scriptures. (See, for example, Scientology's
Fair Game [9] policy.)
The members of this group are less concerned with doctrine and focus more on practices and methods, mainly targeting groups who, in their view, limit the freedom and self-determinism of their members or exploit them. Special concerns are
Scientology,
Unification church,
Jehovah's Witnesses, VPM, but also some Europe-based NMRs and some fundamentalist charismatic groups.
Contextual missiology
The phenomena of "cults" has also entered into the discourses of Christian missions and theology of religions. An initial step in this direction occurred in 1980 when the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization convened a mini-consultation in Thailand. From that consultation a position paper was produced
Thailand Report on New Religious Movements"''. The issue was revisited at the Lausanne Forum in 2004 with another paper
and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World"''. The latter paper adopts a different methodology to that advocated in 1980.
In the
1990s discussions in academic missions and theological journals indicate that another trajectory is emerging which reflects the influence of contextual missions theory. Advocates of this approach maintain that apologetics as a tool needs to be retained, but do not favour a confrontational style of engagement.
Apologetic nuances and models
Countercult apologetics has several nuances and methods employed in analysing and responding to cults. The different nuances in countercult apologetics have been discussed by John Saliba and Philip Johnson.
The dominant method is the emphasis on detecting unorthodox or heretical doctrines and contrasting those with orthodox interpretations of the Bible and early creedal documents. Some apologists, such as
Francis J. Beckwith, have emphasised a philosophical approach, pointing out logical, epistemological and metaphysical problems within the teachings of a particular group. Another approach involves former members of cultic groups recounting their spiritual autobiographies, which highlight experiences of disenchantment with the group, unanswered questions and doubts about commitment to the group, culminating in the person's conversion to Evangelical Christianity.
Pop apologists like
Dave Hunt in ''Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust'' and
Hal Lindsey in ''The Terminal Generation'' have tended to interpret the phenomena of cults as part of the burgeoning evidence of signs that Christ's Second Advent is close at hand. Both Hunt, and
Constance Cumbey, have applied a conspiracy model to interpreting the emergence of New Age spirituality and linking that to speculations about fulfilled prophecies heralding Christ's reappearance.
Other apologists like
Bob Larson blend an understanding of cults as heresies with a strongly nuanced emphasis on Satan as the energizing power behind the growth of cults. This theme has been portrayed in the anti-New Age novels by
Frank Peretti (''This Present Darkness'' and ''Piercing the Darkness'') where demonic forces empower practitioners of New Age groups while Christians engage in spiritual warfare tactics of prayer and exorcisms to counter the groups.
Today there exist many and very diverse countercult ministries and authors, including everything between scholars and soapbox preachers, and there is no overall agreement regarding which groups are part of traditional Christianity.
Some Protestants classify
Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox,
Seventh-day Adventist or
Pentecostal churches as cults, because they allegedly have non-Biblical teachings.
Others speak out mainly against current non-Christian groups or trends in society like the
New Age movement, the popularity of
Harry Potter books or
Halloween.
Some ministries, often led by former members, target single groups like Jehovah's Witnesses or
Mormons.
Some of the criticisms of contemporary "cults" (heterodoxy, breaking up families, etc.) were, in its early days, originally directed against Christianity itself.
Prominent protagonists in the Christian countercult movement
People
★
Hank Hanegraaff is the successor to
Walter Martin on the radio and in CRI. He has continued the work of Martin; he also speaks out against
Oneness Pentecostalism,
Word of Faith ministries, and other similar movements.
★
Norman Geisler
★
Douglas Groothuis
★
Anton Hein [10] targets many groups from a Christian point of view. His Apologetics Index also operates a weblog, the
Religion News Blog.
★
J. P. Moreland, Biola University
★
Richard Abanes [11]
★
Walter Martin [12] Late defrocked Baptist minister who was the host of the
Bible Answer Man radio broadcast and the president of the Christian Research Institute. He often used his show to promote arguments against
Jehovah's Witnesses,
Mormons, and other "cultic" and
occultic movements.
Organizations
★ Answers in Action
[13], Gretchen Passantino
★ Apologia report
[14], maintaining also a professional mailing list for apologetic resources
★ Apologetics resource center
[15], by
Craig Branch
★
Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, founded by
Matt Slick.
★
Christian Research Institute (CRI) founded by Walter Martin
[16]
★ Cult Awareness and Information Centre
[17] founded by the late
Jan Groenveld
★
Dialog Center [18] founded by
Johannes Aagaard
★
EMNR Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
[19], an umbrella group for ministries to the cults and new religions
★ Eternal Ministries
[20] director, Ron J. Bigalke Jr.
★ Institute for Religious Research
[21]
★
Living Hope Ministries [22], an evangelical organization that produces media materials related to Mormonism
★
Midwest Christian Outreach [23]
★ New England Institute of Religious Research (NEIRR)
[24]
★
Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center Official Website
★
Personal Freedom Outreach [25]
★ Probe Ministries
[26]
★
Spiritual Counterfeits Project [27], president
Tal Brooke
★ Watchman Fellowship
[28], founder David Henke, president James K. Walker
External links
★
Apologetics Index; The counter-cult movement
★
Douglas E. Cowan: Christian Countercult Website Profiles
★
CESNUR: Overview of Christian Countercult movement by Douglas E. Cowan
★
Counter Cult Movement at Religious Tolerance
★
Jeff Lindsay's discussion of cults from an LDS perspective
★
Article: Anti-"Minority Religion" Groups with "Big Religion" Ties
Bibliography
Primary sources
★ Abanes, Richard, ''Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family'', Crossway Books, Wheaton, 1998.
★ Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, ''Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions'', Harvest House, Eugene, 1999.
★ Enroth, Ronald (ed)., ''A Guide to New Religious Movements'', InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2005.
★ Geisler, Norman L. and Ron Rhodes, ''When Cultists Ask'', Baker, Grand Rapids, 1997
★ House, H.Wayne, ''Charts of Cults, Sects and Religious Movements'', Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2000.
★ LeBar, James J. ''Cults, Sects, and the New Age'', Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, 1989.
★ Martin, Walter R. ''The Kingdom of the Cults'', edited by Ravi Zacharias, Bethany, Bloomington, 2003
★ McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, ''Handbook of Today's Religions'', Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1992
★ Rhodes, Ron, ''
The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions'', Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2001
★ Sire, James W. ''Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible'', InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1980.
★ Sire, James W. ''The Universe Next Door'' 4th ed., InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2004.
★ Tucker, Ruth A. ''
Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement'', Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2004.
★ ''Vatican Report on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements'', St. Paul Publications, Sydney, 1988.
History and critical assessments
★ Cowan, Douglas E. ''Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult'' (Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut & London, 2003).
★ Enroth, Ronald M. and J. Gordon Melton, ''Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails'' (Brethren Press, Elgin, 1985).
★ Jenkins, Philip, ''Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History'' (Oxford University Press, New York, 2000).
★ Johnson, Philip, "Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach,"
Tribes: Journal of Christian Missions to New Religious Movements'', 1 (1) (2002)
★ Melton, J. Gordon., "The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in ''Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker'', edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, (Routledge, London, 2003), pp. 102-113.
★ Saliba, John A., ''Understanding New Religious Movements'', 2nd edition (Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York & Oxford, 2003).
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
