Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Anti-Cult Movement in Russia - Dan Phillips, Tommy Valentine
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Disclaimer: This session was delivered for the 2023 ICSA Conference. The speaker of this session does not speak on behalf of ICSA as an organization.
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Abstract: "Anti-cult" groups began to form in the 1970s in the United States in response to the perceived destructive nature of various new religious movements (NRM) (also known pejoratively as "cults") that flourished in the 1960s. Parents, family members, and professionals of cults/NRM have since debated how cults/NRM should be viewed by society. Some have seen cults/NRM as destructive, and their members in need of saving through the use of techniques such as "deprogramming." However, there have been others who view the countermovement anti-cult groups as more destructive than those in the NRM themselves.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, various parties in Russia have fought for legislation to ban religious groups that are seen as dangerous. The Russians have enacted legislation to prohibit various religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, who were banned from Russia in 2017. Alexander Dvorkin has been on the frontline in the anti-cult movement in Russia. He is concerned that there exist destructive cults in Russia that attempt to control every aspect of their members' lives. Dvorkin wants individuals to have rights stronger than the rights of specific religious groups.
This presentation examines the post-Soviet anti-cult movement, the philosophy behind it, along with the major individuals and groups who are driving the anti-cult agenda. The Russian Orthodox Church, for instance, has supported the anti-cult movement, but there are other factors involved, not the least of which is Putin's desire to have the population united by one religion. Finally, Russia's anti-cult movement will be examined in the context of the Western anti-cult movement that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States.
The Anti-Cult Movement in Russia - Dan Phillips, Tommy Valentine
-
Disclaimer: This session was delivered for the 2023 ICSA Conference. The speaker of this session does not speak on behalf of ICSA as an organization.
-
Abstract: "Anti-cult" groups began to form in the 1970s in the United States in response to the perceived destructive nature of various new religious movements (NRM) (also known pejoratively as "cults") that flourished in the 1960s. Parents, family members, and professionals of cults/NRM have since debated how cults/NRM should be viewed by society. Some have seen cults/NRM as destructive, and their members in need of saving through the use of techniques such as "deprogramming." However, there have been others who view the countermovement anti-cult groups as more destructive than those in the NRM themselves.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, various parties in Russia have fought for legislation to ban religious groups that are seen as dangerous. The Russians have enacted legislation to prohibit various religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, who were banned from Russia in 2017. Alexander Dvorkin has been on the frontline in the anti-cult movement in Russia. He is concerned that there exist destructive cults in Russia that attempt to control every aspect of their members' lives. Dvorkin wants individuals to have rights stronger than the rights of specific religious groups.
This presentation examines the post-Soviet anti-cult movement, the philosophy behind it, along with the major individuals and groups who are driving the anti-cult agenda. The Russian Orthodox Church, for instance, has supported the anti-cult movement, but there are other factors involved, not the least of which is Putin's desire to have the population united by one religion. Finally, Russia's anti-cult movement will be examined in the context of the Western anti-cult movement that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States.
