A cult apologist is a term (which some find pejorative) used by anti-cult activists to describe a scholar of cults and/or new religious movements perceived as responding to the movements they study with advocacy instead of with neutral scholarship.
Anton Hein's anti-cult "Apologetics Index" website defines a 'cult apologist' as:
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"someone who consistently or primarily defends the teachings and/or actions of one or more movements considered to be cults - as defined sociologically and/or theologically." [1]
Tilman Hausherr wrote:
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"In general, cult apologists are people who are not cult members, but who support cults and defend their unethical activities." [2]
These scholars, in turn, reply to the criticism levelled at them by stating that they consider themselves champions of religious freedom and tolerance. Douglas E. Cowan writes:
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Some of us--myself, Eileen Barker, Massimo [Introvigne], Jeff Hadden , Irving Hexham , Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley, Gordon Melton--are listed on [Anton] Hein's site as dedicated "cult apologists" of varying degrees of prominence. While his characterization of the understanding, motives, and expertise of these "cult apologists" is by-and-large inaccurate and insulting, it serves the agenda of the Countercult by placing these characterizations in the public library of the Internet. "Cult apologists," by the way, are those "claiming to champion religious freedom and religious tolerance." [3].
Anti-cult activists accuse the cult apologists of being naive, bad scholars and above all reproach them of not warning people who should be warned, as well as of being funded by the cults themselves.
For example, the scholar J. Gordon Melton erroneously declared in Japan that Aum Shinrikyo was innocent of the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. His ticket was paid by Aum Shinrikyo.
Detractors of these scholars allege that cult apologists tend to:
- claim that most cults are misunderstood - but legitimate - minority "religions";
- claim that these movements only seem weird because people don't know enough about them;
- claim that anticult organizations and individuals misrepresent the beliefs and practices of such movements;
- claim that negative information about cults comes mostly from disgruntled former members with an ax to grind;
- challenge the reliability of apostates' testimony; (See: Apostasy and new religious movements.)
- claim that anticult organizations are 'anti religious freedom.' [4]
- minimize the harm that cults inflict on their members
Scholars labelled as apologists
The following is a list of scholars who have been characterized as "cult apologists".
Groups described as apologists
The following is a list of some of the groups which have been characterized as cult apologist:
Last updated: 05-27-2005 16:46:56
