The records of what was once the largest world anti-cult organization demonstrate that criminal behavior was systemic rather than occasional in anti-cult milieus.
Anson D. Shupe
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 9. Mismanagement of Funds: Sloppy Bookkeeping or Deliberate Malfeasance?
Auditors and scholars who examined CAN accounts found massive irregularities, a usual problem in anti-cult organizations.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 8. Kickback Money from Deprogrammers to Anti-Cultists
Anti-cultists referred parents of “cult members” to deprogrammers. The latter, in turn, transferred a percentage of the honoraries to the anti-cultists.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 7. Sexual Abuse as a Deprogramming Tool
The most damning documents the bankruptcy of CAN put at the scholars’ disposal concerned the sexually abusive behavior of deprogrammers towards their victims.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 6. “If You Pay Us to Say It’s a Cult, It’s a Cult”
Basically, anti-cultists and deprogrammers regarded as a “cult” any group that had as members children of parents willing to pay for deprogramming them.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 5. CAN and Illegal Deprogramming
Massive evidence confirmed that the anti-cultists referred parents of members of new religious movements to deprogrammers.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 4. Anti-Cultists and Deprogrammers, An Old Association
CAN’s anti-cult predecessor, the Citizens Freedom Foundation, already got in trouble for its clandestine association with illegal deprogramming.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 3. The Jason Scott Case
The Scott case resulted in American courts putting an end to forcible deprogramming, a criminal activity supported by leading anti-cultists.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 2. American Anti-Cultism and Deprogramming
Based on pseudo-scientific theories of brainwashing, anti-cultists supported the criminal but lucrative business of deprogramming.
CAN: Anti-Cultists, Deprogramming, And Crime. 1. The Waterloo of the Cult Awareness Network
“Bitter Winter” serializes a historical study about anti-cultism and its illegal activities, written by an eminent sociologist and a financial expert in 2000.
Anson D. Shupe
Anson D. Shupe (1948–2015) was an eminent American sociologist of religions. A professor of Sociology at Indiana-Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Shupe published seminal studies of new religious movements, the anti-cult movement, deprogramming, and clergy misconduct and sexual abuse. He also studied domestic violence. Apart from his academic activities, he was also a martial arts expert possessing second degree black belts in Judo and Karate.