Reading Along With Prudence, Part 2: An Introduction to Destructive Cults, and the basis of the UHC

Chapter 1 of Combating Cult Mind Control begins with a description of what Hassan calls a "relatively easy case" involving a young man on the verge of joining the Unification Church (aka the Moonies), the same cult in which Hassan himself spent two and a half years. The young man had attended 3 and 7 day workshops and was on the verge of committing to a three-week program after which many choose to abandon their old lives for full-time cult involvement, just as many of Robin's peers did after their week at Chapman Farm.

Hassan also stresses the importance of educating the public about the dangers of cults that practice undue influence. This knowledge can serve as an "inoculation" against mind control; as he states, "People's resistance is higher when they are aware of the danger."  Prudence echoes this exact idea when she recommends Hassan's book and warns Robin to be careful when going undercover: "Being able to identify their techniques will help you resist them." Indeed, when Prudence describes getting professional support with her ex-UHC patient from "an American therapist who's worked with a lot of cult survivors," it is not a stretch to imagine that she contacted Hassan himself. 

When describing the "nightmare reality" of abusive cults, Hassan describes his clients as:

people who have been systematically lied to, physically abused, separated from their families and friends, and forced into servitude.

He evokes another work of fiction, George Orwell's 1984, set in 

a world where thought police maintain complete control over people's mental and emotional lives, and where it is a crime to act or think independently, or even to fall in love.

Hassan maintains that modern day abusive cults resemble Orwell's dystopia:

In these groups, basic respect for the individual is secondary to the leader's whims and ideology. People are manipulated and coerced to think, feel and behave in a single "right" way. Individuals become totally dependent on the group and lose the ability to act or think on their own. They are typically exploited for the sake of the group's economic or political ends. 

Those of us who spent four grueling months with Robin in Chapman Farm will recognize every one of those elements. I was reminded particularly of Becca Emily Pirbright and her forbidden "pure materialism" love affair. Despite knowing that the story of the Drowned Prophet was a lie, was unable to break away, even when the opportunity presented itself in Norwich. 

Continued...

Although the history, size and political influence of the Unification Church is very different from The Running Grave's fictional cult, the Universal Humanitarian Church, there are certainly some similarities. Sun Myung Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954, in Korea; Jonathan Wace founded the UHC in the late 1980's in Norfolk, apparently stepping into a power vacuum when the leaders of the previous commune, the Aylmerton Community, were jailed for pedophilia. However, both groups claim to have a unifying mission: for Moon's group,  the Unification of all Christians; for the UHC, a synthesis of all religions into one. Both Moon and Wace had a background in business, not theology, and both were the absolute and dominating leaders of their organizations. Both groups sold small items to raise money: candy. flowers, candles and puppets for the Moonies, stuffed turtles and corn dollies for the UHC. Both groups recruited heavily from universities. Both groups use multi-day workshops to begin the indoctrination process and both encourage a "conversion" experience in which the new member officially joins the group. The Moonies, according to Hassan, "are required to work long hours, exist on little sleep. eat boring junk food, sometimes for weeks on end, and endure numerous hardships for the sake of their 'spiritual growth,'" That was also the experience of the Chapman Farm residents, including Robin. 

Hassan defines mind control as "any system of influence that disrupts an individual's authentic identity and replaces it with a false new one." The UHC twists this concept around, teaching its converts that their original identity is a "false self" that must be rejected in favor of the "true self" that merges with the UHC collective, as the individual progresses towards becoming "pure spirit." Another characteristic of mind control is its restriction of the individual's freedom of affiliation. According to Hassan:

Although many people sincerely believe that they had a fair choice in joining, and always have a fair choice about leaving, that is, sadly, too often a delusion created by the cult itself. 

Robin saw the truth of this in the UHC, just before being shut in the box:

"Do you want to leave us, Rowena? Because, if so, you're completely free to do so." 

Robin... remembered the stories of Kevin Pirbright and Niamh Doherty, of Sheila Kennett and Flora Brewster, all of which had taught her that if there were any safe, easy route out of Chapman Farm, it wouldn't have taken bereavement, mental collapse or night-time escape through barbed wire to free them. She no longer believed that the Waces would stop short of murder to protect themselves or their lucrative fiefdom. Wace's offer was for the camera, to prove that Robin had been given a free choice that was, in reality, no choice at all. 

The abuse and isolation experienced by UHC members is also outlined in Hassan's description of destructive cults:

People who stay in these organizations suffer not only damage to their self-esteem, but to their whole sense of identity and their connection to the outside world. In some cases, they completely lose contact with family and friends for long periods of time. If they leave, those born into destructive groups are often shunned as evil and as unbelievers or apostates. Often, they are villified and lies are told about them to members to keep them faithful and afraid to speak with defectors to hear their side of the story. Family members and friends are often ordered to reject them, and often have no contact with them....Some members of destructive cults suffer physical abuse during their involvement, in the form of beatings or rape, while others simply suffer the abuse of long hours of grueling, monotonous work, 15 to 18 hours a day, year in and year out. In essence, they become slaves, with few or no resources, personal or financial. They become trapped in the group, which does everything it can to keep them, as long as they are productive. When they fall sick, or are no longer an asset, they are often kicked out. 

Multiple examples of these characteristics can be seen in UHC. Those who leave are referred to as going "deviant" or "DV." Becca The Pirbright sisters were lied to about their brother's death. Will Edensor was blocked from communicating with his family and not even told about the death of his mother. Beatings and torture in "the box" are regularly used as punishment, and girls are forced into sex with adult men beginning at age 13. Those who can work, like Louise Pirbright, are kept confined to the farm for years, while Flora Brewster was sent back to her family when her mental illness made her unable to serve the cult. 

Finally, Hassan closes the chapter by talking about the reasons some people leave cults, even when, like Kevin Pirbright and Linn Doherty, they grew up in the group and know little else. 

I believe people want to be free. They want to read what they want to read, and they want to form their own opinions. They want honesty, and do not like being lied to, or exploited. They want trustworthy leaders, who are responsible and accountable... They crave the freedom to be themselves. 

In Chapter 2, we'll learn more about Hassan's experience as first a recruit, than as a leader in the Moonies, and see how it compares to the experiences of characters from The Running Grave.