The Schools' Programme.

Generally most of us are shocked every few years when we hear about incidents like Waco, or the Solar Temple but say to ourselves it won’t happen here! Many people think that the cult issue is no longer with us. They remember the cult scares of the 70s, 80s and 90s, with the Moonies and Scientology being the prominent groups that are remembered. Now with the collapse of religion in general there is no sense of the danger cults involve. It is only when someone close to them suddenly changes and joins a group that they become aware.

Unlike the drugs issue which is quantifiable, Cults are not so easy to evaluate. How many are there? What numbers are involved? We have no statistics, but from research in other countries we can say that up to 1–1.5 % of the population are caught up. That means that up to 60,000 people could be involved. Just because we are not aware of anyone being involved should not blind us to the need for this to be given some space in either the RE programme or at least somewhere on the school programme. I am getting calls on a daily basis from families whose adult children have joined this group or that and say to me, “if only they had had that talk!” These people turn to Dialogue Ireland for guidance and support. Such situations can be unbelievably painful for the people involved. Some have compared it to the death of a loved one without the funeral. Fortunately, the experiences of most people joining new movements are much less dramatic than this. Also the general culture is becoming more aware of the real possibility of mind control as we see ostensibly normal young people taking part in suicide missions where they are educated within very narrow parameters about a particular religious tradition.

Often when one goes to a school the young people in say Cavan are aware for example that the Goths gather at the central bank. In each school I am aware of a small group of Goths, [See CESNUR link on our web site http://www.dialogueireland.org which covers this group] who where black gear. Some are merely punks others become involved with the black arts. I was in Parnell Square one Sunday morning and saw a long line of people dressed in black waiting for buses. At first I thought it was some form of clerical event. As I got closer it was clear that it was the Goths on their way to a concert.

What service does DI offer?
First we have a web site that gives background to all the world religions and links to sites that cover everything. In the context of the new syllabus which has a world religions dimension our presentations situate the NRM’s in the religion it has arisen from. We do not so much look at cults, but the phenomenon of "Cultism", which can happen in any human situation, [again look at the article on this subject on our web site] Also we facilitate both sides of the debate by putting the web sites of the groups and their opponents for the public to make up their own minds about a particular movement.

We visit schools and especially try to address 6 years with the challenge, rather than the dangers of NRM’s especially in the context of the transition to third level. We find this the best year to address when the issues are about to impact them. One can provide background to younger students when specific issues like the use of the ouija board or they may have dabbled in occult practices.

The content of the course is not a listing of the various groups, but rather engages the students as adults with role-play and real life encounters around the issue. We show the methods used in recruitment. We also do a section of Christian education explaining that people generally only join something when they are not involved with faith they grew up in.

It has been our experience that young people growing up in the country are more at risk than city kids are. Young people growing up in the city are in touch with groups often from the age of 14 onwards. So when young people move to college from the country they are often at the level of development of a 14 year old because they have not been exposed to cult groups growing up and are easier to recruit. Teachers in the country sometimes forget that their community will lose nearly all of their students to the city. They sometimes think that there is no need to have a talk in the country as they do not face the problem of cults locally, whereas their young people are the most at risk and need the presentation before they leave. Another interesting statistic from my experience is that generally people with a high IQ get involved, but may not have a high emotional IQ!

It is better if a school can organise a visit with other schools in the area. e.g. When I go to Midleton College, I often do St Mary’s school in Midleton Co. Cork as well! This saves on transport costs and spreads the message wider on a single visit as well as being more time efficient.

Cost: € 75 per double period + Travel expenses. One needs at least two class periods to cover the issues in any depth.
If a teacher can organise a visit to a number of schools in their area that is best for DI.

OTHER SERVICES FROM DI:

Advice and information: We provide advice and information to government departments, the media who are an essential element in opening up cultist issues in society. We also provide this service to schools, families and individuals about cultist groups. We try to help people clarify whether the problem they are encountering result from involvement with cultism or other issues. We refer people on to councillors who understand the issues related to cult involvement.

Specific support Groups: We also facilitate support groups for those coming out of a particular movement as a way to help them resolve the issues their involvement resulted in. We provide an initial support to the group then they become self supporting.

Thought Reform Consultancy: Formerly it was believed that a person who joined a Group was programmed and as a result he needed to be 'deprogrammed.' This then led to 'exit counselling' where it was assumed that the only direction a person could go in was out. Now the issue has developed to the point where we talk about Thought Reform.

Here the idea is that the person is presented with alternative information about the group he is in. It involves getting the whole family involved in the process. It is entirely voluntary which means the person does not have to escape back to the group with his horror story about being deprogrammed. This can take years to organise, but it allows for differences to be resolved within the family, and it can lead to healing in relationships which have no connection to the cult issue.

Lobbying: This is done on behalf of the victims and survivors and their families who obviously do not go to their TD to raise the issue as there is a stigma associated with joining a cult. Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe that has not addressed the issues of "cults" in a systematic manner. We have attempted for over a decade to get a hearing from government, but they simply refuse to hear the cries of those who have been affected.

There is a requirement for the study of cults in an academic context, with researchers, and resources made available to provide support for the many families who have had to bear the wounds of battle without assistance. The Belgium government for example has a committee that provides this service and it has an interdepartmental team that looks out for cultist issues within Belgium. A basic requirement in Ireland would be for the Taoiseach’s department to connect with Finance, Education and Justice to find a way to help in this area. There is not the political will to help us. We appeal to those who have had experiences in this field from the private sector to come to our aid as a place like the Milltown Institute could be a natural host for such a centre.

MIKE GARDE
DIRECTOR DIALOGUE IRELAND
Phone: 353 -1- 8309384 or mobile 353 - 87 2396229 7/8 Lr Abbey St; Dublin 1
Web site: http://www.dialogueireland.org
Email address: info@dialogueireland.org
Charity number: CHY 14004
IRELAND and IRISH representative on the General Assembly of the European Federation of Centres for Research and Education on Sects (FECRIS).