what is religious brainwashing what is religious brainwashing

Are these things just brute facts, or have we been fed them so many times that weve started to accept them as truth? The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? By this measure, the religion of Pastafarianism is the creation of a first-rate mind. In some cases, these people neglected or even broke contact with their families, who found these changes very strange and upsetting. Brainwashing, on the other hand, is a more forceful and invasive process on an unwilling or unwitting subject, which involves coercion, torture, drugs, hypnotic suggestion and other methods to affect behavior. An additional finding was that some individuals derived benefit from these coercive procedures due to the fact that the interactions, perhaps as an unintended side effect, actually promoted insight into dysfunctional behaviors that were then abandoned. People have also come to use the terms brainwashing or mind control to explain the otherwise intuitively puzzling success of some methodologies for the religious conversion of inductees to new religious movements (includingcults). Constantly associate your belief system with positives, such as love, brotherhood and happy smiling children. Conway and Siegelman (1978) described sudden, drastic alterations ofpersonalityin people who joined NRMs. We know that religious fundamentalism is strongly correlated with what psychologists and neuroscientists call magical thinking , which refers to making ing brn-wsh-i, -wsh- : a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas brainwash transitive verb brainwash noun brainwasher noun More from Merriam-Webster on brainwashing The Church is a very big tent with over a billion members and with many different perspectives and people in it. So the accusation of brainwashing in this context was clearly used to defame. And you might say, as an atheist, We want them to make up their own minds, which is great so do I but do you really make it that open-ended? WebNormalized generational toxicity & internalized frustrations abetted by the need to do something for a higher social/religious/moral purpose, which is satiated by state Rather, many of them behaved as though they did in order to avoid the plausible threat of extreme physical abuse. mind control (brainwashing) Mind control is the successful control of the thoughts and actions of another without his or her consent. For many, the religious brainwashing begins at birth when we are baptized and subsequently attend Sunday school. WebBrainwashing refers to the systematic application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs or behavior of one or more people, usually for political or religious purposes. Omissions? You only care about your religious goals. The Chinese did, however, succeed in having some of the prisoners make anti-American statements by placing the prisoners under harsh conditions of physical and social deprivation and disruption, and then by offering them more comfortable situations such as better sleeping quarters, better food, warmer clothes, or blankets. Singers theories were also used by anti-religious deprogrammers to justify kidnapping members of various faiths (Christian as well as new religious movements) and beating them into renouncing their faiths. Dr.Levine offered a purported expert opinion about the psychological coercion that the plaintiff allegedly endured while with the Church of Scientology. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), The Ultimate Survival Guide - How to talk about God, the Bible and stuff. Dalsze korzystanie ze strony oznacza, e zgadzasz si na ich uycie. I grew up believing that all other faiths engage in brainwashing but in Islam, there is no brainwashing. Hes not saying watch out for science, or come to church, but leave your brain at the door. Hes not even saying you dont need reason anymore, because youve got faith. No, hes saying that faith is a gift from God, butso is reason, and both faith and reason are given to us to help usto respond to this hunger we all have to know the truth. But there are still plenty of other techniques available to an enthusiastic authoritarian. He argued that the CIA brainwashing theory was pushed to the general public through the books of Edward Hunter, who was a secret CIApsychological warfarespecialist passing as a journalist. In the 1960s, after coming into contact with new religious movements (NRMs), popularly referred to as cults, young people suddenly adoptedfaiths,beliefs, and behavior that differed markedly from their previous lifestyles and seemed at variance with their upbringings. "But below the The APA Board stated that, In general, the report lacks the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach needed for APA imprimatur. The APA Board warned Singer and her cohorts not to imply that the APA in any way supported the positions she had put forward. He further asserted that for twenty years, starting in the early 1950s, the CIA and the Defense Department conducted secret research in an attempt to develop practical brainwashing techniques (possibly to counteract the brainwashing efforts of the Chinese), and that the attempt was a failure. Moreover, the few prisoners influenced by Communist indoctrination apparently succumbed as a result of the confluence of the coercive persuasion, and of the motives andpersonalitycharacteristics of the prisoners that already existed before imprisonment. I am not sure if this is correct or not. But for those at the Authoritarian end of the scale, rational persuasion is not an option. Rangi CS GO. So, let's not forget that it's not just brainwashing, it's the longing to be around others that often draws people to religion. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic. If, as an authoritarian, you want children to believe what you tell them, it is unwise to let them mix with unbelievers. Modern life, and indeed, science itself, require that we be able to generally trust the people who came before us. These methods of thought control proved extremely useful in gaining the compliance ofprisoners of war. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? In May 1989, the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and individual sociologists and psychologists (including members of an executive council of the APA) reiterated the APAs position in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States. in the TV series Misfits? You have no comment about republicans who voted AGAINST banning it. Later, two studies of the Korean War defections by Robert Lifton (1961) and Edgar Schein (1961) concluded that brainwashing had only a transient effect when used onprisoners of war(POWs). WebWe would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. That hunger can be the cause of a lot of unhappiness, when were lost and confused. They tend to be financially-secure unmarried white men who have never finished college, andfewer than a quarter of them are actually parents. Non-aggressive indoctrination is as you describe: in a religious setting, the willing reception towards, and acceptance of, doctrine. Wellisch DK. Obviously, Im not suggesting that they cant have an opinion (I mean,Iman unmarried millennial, after all), but it is worth pointing out whentheyre bloviating on a topic with which they have very little practical experience or knowledge. Although it is undeniable that human beings are susceptible to many forms of social influence, they are also endowed with free will and the ability to choose what to accept as truth and how to interpret their experience of the world. Dick Anthony, a research and forensicpsychologist, claimed that theCIAinvented the brainwashing ideology as apropaganda strategy to undercut communist claims that American prisoners of warin Korean communist camps had voluntarily expressed sympathy forcommunism, and that definitive research demonstrated that collaboration by western POWs had been caused by fear and duress, and not by brainwashing (Anthony 1990). It isnt the agreement with a statement about how the world is. We need more people like Hitchens in the public sphere, really miss that guy. It is not acceptable for the body of christ to self-harm in this way. English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. As noted by Dr.Dick Anthony in the December 1999 issue of Social Justice Research, Singers theories were not based on systematic research on new religions, but rather simply transferred this pseudoscientific brainwashing theory to an ideological attack on new religions. In other words, she simply adopted the CIA brainwashing theory and applied it to new religions. Control environment: Loved ones are cut off from family, no communication. And here, I dont just mean that they arent parents. Later analysis determined that some of the primary methodologies employed on them during their imprisonment included sleep deprivation and other intense psychological manipulations designed to break down their individual autonomy. Stupid Harry Potter). and they equally couldnt rely upon their colleagues. The justification was that if members of these faiths had been brainwashed and had no free will, then it was perfectly acceptable to beat their religious conversion out of them. WebThe purpose of religious education by the way is to teach children what the religion they are getting into is so that they can prepare themselves for communion. Authoritarians believe individuals, and particularly children, should defer to some external authority that can make these judgments for them. Te przydatne bindy CS GO Ci w tym pomog. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. eightyWatts 3 yr. ago I like this explanation. Sure, it's false hope, but religion does give people hope and purpose in their lives. In 1983, the American Psychological Association (APA) askedMargaret Singer, one of the leading proponents of coercive persuasion theories, to chair a task force called DIMPAC to investigate whether brainwashing or coercive persuasion did indeed play a role in recruitment by such movements. In this context, religious education is simply teaching one more Isnt it just as easy/apt to accuse secular/atheist parents of brainwashing their children as it is for Christians to be accused? As political and social countercultural movements dissipated, alienated young adults began seeking alternative forms of protest. Totalitarian regimes are fond of lining up pupils up in playgrounds for a daily recitation of the regimes key tenets. Start typing to search all Word on Fire content. THAT is religious brainwashing in the extreme. Later, APA Division 36 (then Psychologists interested in Religion Issues, later Psychology of Religion) in its 1990 annual convention approved the following resolution: The Executive Committee of the Division of Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues supports the conclusion that, at this time, there is no consensus that sufficient psychological research exists to scientifically equate undue non-physical persuasion (otherwise known as coercive persuasion, mind control, or brainwashing) with techniques of influence as typically practiced by one or more religious groups. So what other religions do is no concern of ours, and we dont have to defend them in the same way that Per Mertesacker doesnt have to pick up a man when Chelsea concede a corner (For non-football fans or Americans, Mertesacker plays for Arsenalwhich is a football team). Christians can be Liberal. Your answer would benefit greatly with some citations, sources, and examples unless you are an expert in such coercive techniques. Religion does this very well. Thus, although the use of brainwashing on United Nations prisoners during the Korean War produced some propagandabenefits, its main utility to the Chinese lay in the fact that it significantly increased the maximum number of prisoners that one guard could control, thus freeing other Chinese soldiers to go to the battlefield. I found the article Cult of Confession quite helpful on this. They aimed to produce confessions, to convince the accused that they had indeed perpetrated anti-social acts, to make them feel guilty ofcrimesagainst the state, to make them desirous of a fundamental change in outlook toward the institutions of the new communist society, and, finally, to actually accomplish these desired changes in the recipients of the brainwashing/thought-reform process. It is still puzzling as to why left-wingers, employed by the legacy media, keep pushing radical gender ideology and urging gender transitions in children. Brainwashing is the reduction of people to near zombie-like status through psychological manipulation in the religious and related domain. They argued that Singers theories of religious brainwashing have no scientific validity and noted that to the extent that the [theory of coercive persuasion from minority religious practice] can be said to have any empirical foundation at all, that foundation is so methodologically inadequate to beworthless.. Stephen Law Ph. Either way,thats every bit as much a lesson as a bedside Bible reading. 1. Lifton and Schein both found that the Chinese did not engage in any systematic re-education of prisoners, but generally used their techniques of coercive persuasion to disrupt the ability of the prisoners to organize to maintain their morale and to try to escape. Less extreme cases appear to function in general society but with an obsession about religion and salvation. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Such a life would be irrational and evenunlivable. Do we think its ok to surround ourselves with luxuries at the expense of the people whose country the raw materials came from? No religious minorities were exempted from her expansive opinion that the brainwashing theory applied to the voluntary participation of persons in new religiousmovements. And it happens by freely inviting Gods spirit into your heart, by welcoming into your life the greatest love in the universe. Here is a clever, lovely person who believes something that seems so ridiculous to me. ) "Brainwashing" is an inherently subjective metaphor that is used as a rationale for persecuting unpopular movements and defining religious converts as nonautonomous zombies who can be coerced for therapeutic purposes. Has the cause of a rocket failure ever been mis-identified, such that another launch failed due to the same problem? Finally, what we need to be aware of is that every worldview is passed down to you from someone else. Its probably worth mentioning that many of the atheists decrying brainwashing are still going through this time of transition. They claimed that such people were subjected to practices designed to impair the brains powers of information processing, leading to delusions, altered awareness, and changes in thinking. This is a hard one. WebReligious brainwashing. According to online dictionary definitions indoctrinate and brainwash are near synonyms, however indoctrinate is a much older (17th century) word which originally merely meant "teach", although it seems to have been applied mainly to the teaching of religion: brainwashing as a word did not appear until the 1950s. While "coercive persuasion" models do have some heuris Please include the research youve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. On May11, 1987, the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) formally dismissed Singers notions of coercive persuasion after she and several of her associates had submitted a report and formed a task force within the APA on deceptive and indirect methods of persuasion and control by minority religions. Is teaching children religion brainwashing? Your brainwashing is showing. Indeed, what some claimed as a religious conversion experience, others described as brainwashing; what some called faith-breaking, others called deprogramming. Of course, it covers stuff I have written about in depth elsewhere in e.g. I believe it because Ive met the guy I trust Him with my life, and with theirs. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Allegations of brainwashing were projected by the Anti-Cult Movement (ACM) during the 1980s and 1990s who posited that cults were using advanced forms of psychological manipulation of their members. my book The War For Children's Minds. In 1988 Singer and her theories were rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which noted that the plaintiff in the case had failed to provide any evidence that Dr.Singers particular theory, namely that techniques of thought reform have a significant following in the scientific community, let alone general acceptance.. * 1.) Butits more than that. Questions for debate: 1. 29 Apr 2023 15:23:32 I chose Jesus at 22, but although my parents were both Christians, I could never accuse them of brainwashing. Forced love isnt love at all its emotional rape. This is when young, influential and impressionable minds are engrained with the need to be saved by Jesus Christ. But lets make sure they are liberal faith schools. Some say there could be as many as 5,000 religious groups in America preying on the weak and vulnerable, with five to seven million victims and 180,000 new recruits each year. Such popular usage often implies a belief that the ideas of the allegedly brainwashed person developed under some external influence such as books, television programs, television commercials (as producing brainwashed consumers), video games, religious groups, political groups, or other people. But its precisely in working through this hunger in a faithful and reasonable way that we come to know and love God, and learn the deepest truths about who we are. CVM is a registered as a charity in England and Wales (No.1071663) and Scotland (No.SCO43446) and a company limited by guarantee (No.3623498) The brief stated that [t]he methodology of Drs. However, whether we want to admit it or not, forms of brainwashing also occur within mainstream Christianity and not just on the cultic fringes. However, a distinction must be made between the modifying ofbeliefsversus the modifying of behavior. Although American attention came to bear on thought reconstruction or brainwashing as a result of theKorean War, the techniques had been used on ordinary Chinese citizens since the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). A colloquial term, it is more generally applied to any technique designed to manipulate human thought or action against the desire, will, or knowledge of the individual. An additional article by Hunter on the same subject appeared inNew Leadermagazine in 1951. Reactions to attempts by the state to reform them showed that most people would change under pressure and would change back when the pressure was removed. The idea that brainwashing techniques exist that are capable of altering thebeliefs,attitudes, and thought processes of individuals has appeared in a number of fictional forms. You have no comment about republicans who voted AGAINST banning it. Nonetheless, there are in the life of a human being many more truths which are simply believed than truths which are acquired by way of personal verification. 20152023 Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination. What is wrong in it? Popular speech continues to use the word brainwashed informally and pejoratively to describe persons subjected to intensive influence resulting in the rejection of oldbeliefsand in the acceptance of new ones; or to account for someone who holds strong ideas considered to be implausible and that seem resistant to evidence, common sense, experience, and logic. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). WebBrainwashing refers to the systematic application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs or behavior of one or more people, usually for political or religious purposes. When rigid control of information was terminated, and the former prisoners natural methods of reality testing could resume, the superimposed values and judgments were rapidly attenuated. Under such conditions, they described the mind as snapping under the pressure, and realigning with the patterns of thought presented by those in control of the process. Why don't we use the 7805 for car phone chargers? Nevertheless, it is not far fetched to believe that under extreme circumstances outside forces could influence ones mental state. Who caused you to think like that? Deal with it. Plus, moderate and liberal churches tend to do a Accusations that new religious movements, or cults, employed similar techniques to gain and retain members fueled this argument. Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. Don't miss a single post from the CVM team. They would never have reached those fairytale conclusions on their own, so there must surely be something insidious at work behind it a sort of religious Kaiser Soze.. Because of their early brainwashing, many children never question authority, including their Sunday school Nevertheless, the psychiatrists noted that even these measures of coercion proved quite ineffective in changing basicattitudesfor most people. In a statement, Lt. Gov. Society will try to safeguard public good where individuals will have to conform to accepted norms. Control. This article covers more than techniques used by churches and pastors, but for the purposes of this website, the main focus is on religious indoctrination and brainwashing. Hunter, aCIApropaganda operator who worked under-cover as a journalist, turned out a steady stream of books and articles on the subject. Who, for instance, could assess critically the countless scientific findings upon which modern life is based?