SEEKERS’ HANDBOOK · ADDITIONAL READING
Further Resources — Autonomy and Safety
FLÁVIO LOPES · SPECULUM LUNAE
When does a community overstep its bounds?
The word cult has several historical meanings and is frequently used to disparage minority religions. The mere fact that a community possesses secret teachings, unusual practices, initiatory rituals or a priestly hierarchy does not establish that it is dangerous. In assessing risks, it is more useful to examine the concrete behaviour of its members and the power relationships they establish.
Some behaviours deserve particular attention: systematically discouraging contact with friends, relatives or other religious communities; forbidding questions or presenting leaders as infallible; controlling members’ emotional, financial or professional decisions; using fear of spiritual punishment to demand continued membership; pressuring people into intimate practices against their wishes; encouraging members to monitor one another or exploiting personal information to intimidate them; demanding disproportionate financial contributions or tying access to spiritual privileges to payment; humiliating participants; or threatening those who criticise the group or wish to leave.
A community may have rigorous participation requirements without engaging in these behaviours. It may also preserve initiatory material and expect discretion. Try to distinguish the legitimate protection of an initiatory Tradition from attempts to control members’ intellectual freedom, bodies and personal lives. If a situation troubles you, try to describe it concretely: who asked for what, on what grounds, what consequences were announced, and what genuine possibilities for refusal existed?
No list of indicators can determine, by a mere numerical score, whether a community is safe or dangerous. A group may offer profound religious experiences and affectionate relationships and nevertheless display serious behaviour that justifies someone’s departure. Likewise, organisational difficulties, occasional conflicts and differences in temperament do not necessarily demonstrate systematic coercion. What matters is understanding the nature, context and consequences of the behaviour involved.
Four useful external resources
Isaac Bonewits — Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame (ABCDEF). Indicators concerning control, isolation, submission, authority and relationships with former members. A Portuguese version (2.6) is available at neopagan.net. Use it to prompt reflection, rather than as a definitive scientific classification; Bonewits himself recognised limits in his proposal.
Gleewood — Conscious Awareness of Religious Environments (CARE). A resource especially concerned with observing Pagan and magical religious communities. It encourages careful record-keeping and reflection over time: gleewood.org.
International Cultic Studies Association — Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups. Behaviours associated with high-control relationships, with the important reminder that such indicators do not constitute an automatic diagnosis: internationalculticstudies.org.
International Cultic Studies Association — Thinking About Leaving a High-Control Group? This Checklist Can Help You Prepare. Practical considerations for leaving coercive situations, attending to safety, personal resources and support networks: internationalculticstudies.org.
When to seek help and protect your safety
As we have seen throughout this handbook, someone may end an approach or leave a community for many reasons, without necessarily having had a negative experience. When the relationship is respectful, departure usually allows for a conversation, the settlement of outstanding responsibilities and the preservation of legitimately undertaken commitments to confidentiality.
Threats, violence, financial coercion, withholding of documents, attempts at isolation or other forms of intimidation call for different precautions. In such circumstances, put your safety first and avoid confrontations that could heighten the danger. Seek support from trustworthy people outside the community, retain access to essential documents and resources, and when appropriate seek professional advice or suitable protection services.
Religious commitments to secrecy must not prevent anyone from seeking help, reporting violence or exercising their rights. The International Cultic Studies Association checklist linked above offers further guidance for people who need to plan their departure from a high-control community.
ONE FINAL QUESTION: Can I undertake this community’s commitments consciously and responsibly while retaining my ability to reflect, ask questions and make decisions about my own life?