Research: 'Cults' and the Usenet newsgroup alt.christnet.christianlife [1].

After posting/ministering on Usenet newsgroups for about ten years (with more than 20,700 posts by/about me there, according to Google), I'm interested in a phenomenon which I think is new: the alleged/attempted 'takeover' of an unmoderated newsgroup by a group of people, whom others allege are 'cultists'.

The apostle Paul encourages us to 'Prove/test all things; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil' and goes on to bless those Thessalonians: 'May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this'. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-24).

Which provides the three broad purposes for this research: understanding the truth ('test all things'); promoting goodness/healing; so that our whole beings may glorify God.

My purpose here is to begin a journey which will attempt to match the history of this group over the past few years, and especially the past couple of months, with the fairly-well-established sociological criteria relating to 'cults' (or 'New Religious Movements' - 'NRMs' - as they're sometimes affectionately termed in the literature :-)

I will only publish names and excerpts from posts which are readily available in Google's newsgroup or website archives, or private emailed information with the author's permission. I will respect the privacy of anyone who wishes to communicate with me confidentially by email.

Someone has suggested that an advanced academic degree might be obtained via such research. I agree. But I don't need any more degrees (I'm 'dying by degrees' with about half a dozen of them :-) . I already have an earned doctorate in Practical Theology (Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, U.S.) and am a 'Ph.D. Cand.' in the sociology of religion with one of Australia's largest universities - Monash (but currently demitting).

The Lord's call / my ministry over the last 20 years has focussed on hurting Christians - pastors, pastors' spouses/children, church leaders, and others. The aim of John Mark Ministries hopefully aligns itself with Paul's injunctions above - understanding (the search for truth); healing (or sanctification) for the greater glory of God.

That is, I have no interest whatsoever in libelling or castigating anyone; nor in 'point-scoring'; nor in any form of behavior which is childish ('Yes you did'; 'No I didn't'), or demeaning a brother/sister (remembering we are all fellow-strugglers, but still made in the image of God). Our task here is not to laugh at /rage against /belittle others but to seek the truth, so that wholeness can begin. And hopefully some reconciliations.

The limitations of this research include the following:

[1] The situation here is complex. There aren't simply 'two sides', though there are fairly loud protagonists/antagonists who sometimes 'SHOUT' at one another!

[2] I only have the month of February to pursue this project (while on leave from a pastoral appointment).

[3] I'm not good at retrieval of past posts or working with minutae: I am relying on others who have better retrieval systems to correct any mistakes I might make.

[4] Alleged members of cults are better at hurling vitriol at their 'opponents' than rational debate about their beliefs and practices. I have already begun inviting the 'leaders' pro and con here to make their defense, and I will publish the key documents on the John Mark Ministries website. Again I have no interest whatsoever in presenting a biassed view of all this. I want everyone to have their say, and hopefully the submissions will be irenic.

[5] In situations like this the 'presenting' issues are rarely the *real* issues. For example, I detect hurts all over the place in this newsgroup, evidenced in some outbursts of spiteful rage on the one hand or somewhat irrational hysteria on the other. The aetiology of our present behaviors and experiences lie in our histories (parents, authority-figures etc.), and most of our beliefs are aligned closely with those of whichever preacher/teacher/pastor 'got hold of us when we were impressionable'.

More to come.

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Shalom!

Rowland Croucher

15th February 2004.