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Christian countercult movement
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The Christian countercult movement is a collective description 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, which they consider to be cults. They are also known as discernment ministries.
agonists generally come from an Evangelical or fundamentalist background, although many have Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Ancient Oriental Orthodox roots.
The countercult movement asserts that non-Christian faiths are spiritually counterfeit and claims the authority to define "true" Christianity, and thus to define "false" Christianity.
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Encyclopedia
The Christian countercult movement is a collective description 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, which they consider to be cults. They are also known as discernment ministries.
Overview
Protagonists generally come from an Evangelical or fundamentalist background, although many have Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Ancient Oriental Orthodox roots.
The countercult movement asserts that non-Christian faiths are spiritually counterfeit and claims the authority to define "true" Christianity, and thus to define "false" Christianity. 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 essential Christian doctrine (e.g., the doctrine of the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, salvation, etc).
Some "countercult" groups consider other similar groups to be non-Christian, due to additional disagreements over doctrine or the use of a different translation of the Bible. Many of the Protestant groups consider Catholicism to be a cult, due to beliefs regarding the Pope and Mary among others. Many of the Catholic groups feel the same way about Protestant groups. 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.
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 positions 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 among targeted groups.
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 educationally 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 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 non-Christian groups, such as Islam, Judaism, Wicca and other 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 and pioneers
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of non-orthodox movements throughout church history.The Apostles themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The Apostle Paul wrote an entire epistle, Galatians, antagonistic to the teachings of a Jewish sect that claimed adherence to the teachings of both Jesus and Moses (cf. Acts 15: & Gal. 1:6-10). The Apostle John devoted his first Epistle to countering early proto-gnostic cults that had arisen in the first century, all claiming to be "Christian" (1 Jn. 2:19).
The early Church in the post-apostolic period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative soteriologies - either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the Hellenistic mysteries." In fact, a good deal of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus were among the greatest early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.
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 twentieth 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)ISBN 0-8028-3278-4
- 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 as it was repeatedly revised and updated until 1962.
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 The Rise of the Cults, 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
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. Dave Breese summed up this kind of definition in these words: "A cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the world of religion which calls for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy. A cult may take many forms but it is basically a religious movement which distorts or warps orthodox faith to the point where truth becomes perverted into a lie. A cult is impossible to define except against the absolute standard of the teaching of Holy Scripture."(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 U.S.
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 ("Pastoral ministry for Sects and World Views.") headed by Thomas Gandow, the Swiss "Evangelische Informationsstelle Kirchen-Sekten-Religionen" (Evangelical information service on Churches, Sects and Religions) headed by Georg Schmid,
- Catholic: Sekten in Sachsen (sects in Saxony) and Weltanschauungen und religiöse Gruppierungen ("Worldviews and religious groups") of the Austrian diocese of Linz, and GRIS in Italy
- Orthodox: Center of Ireneus of Lyon in Russia.
Some independents like the international Dialog Center, and Anton Hein's Apologetics Index 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, which—along with lying and deception—are condoned and encouraged in Scientology's own scriptures. (See, for example, Scientology's Fair Game 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 . The issue was revisited at the Lausanne Forum in 2004 with another paper . 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
Organizations
- Answers in Action, Bob and Gretchen Passantino
- Apologia report, maintaining also a professional mailing list for apologetic resources
- Apologetics resource center, by Craig Branch
- Banner Ministries founded by Tricia Tillin.
- founded by Matt Slick
- Christian Research Institute (CRI) founded by Walter Martin
- Cult Awareness and Information Centre founded by the late Jan Groenveld
- Dialog Center founded by Johannes Aagaard
- EMNR Evangelical Ministries to New Religions, an umbrella group for ministries to the cults and new religions
- Eternal Ministries director, Ron J. Bigalke Jr.
- Institute for Religious Research
- , an evangelical organization that produces media materials related to Mormonism
- A Church in Brigham City, Utah, with information and resources on Mormonism
- Midwest Christian Outreach
- New England Institute of Religious Research (NEIRR)
- Official Website
- Personal Freedom Outreach
- Probe Ministries
- Examining the Jehovah's Witnesses
- Spiritual Counterfeits Project, president Tal Brooke
- Watchman Fellowship, founder David Henke, president James K. Walker
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," , 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).
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