Reviews

Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs by Steven Hassan

Only show reviews with written explanations

jessicathehill's review

Go to review page

informative slow-paced

3.75

mikuthemuso's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Steven Hassan does a good job in not sensationalising the matter of cults. I applaud him for that. One small issue I had with this book was that there is an air of determinism in the explanation of cults and brainwashing. I agree that cult members are recruited, but I disagree with his premise that a person never "joins" a cult. I think it's a combination of choice and of deception. The philosophical debate about free will and determinism is one that comes to mind when thinking about religious choice, and religious freedom, and I think it is an important issue especially in terms of first principles. How to define cults is also an tricky subject matter, as different cultures may have different ways of practicing things, I think it would've been good for the author to distinguish more between destructive cults and benevolent cults. The term 'cult' can be quite vague in definition. I know that would've increased the length of the book, but it does seem to be an important issue. Another major area of importance that I think the author should've focused on more is the political aspect of cults, how they are infiltrating the political sphere, influencing legislation and government. This is probably the most disturbing and fascinating aspect of the book. Reading about how the 'Moonies' leader founded the American Newspaper 'The Washington Post'.

"President Ronald Reagan has repeatedly said it is his favorite newspaper and that he reads it every day.22 Han Sang Keuk and Bo Hi Pak are both top executives of the Times."

Another great point that Steven Hassan brings up at the end of his book is the involvement of public figures, theologians and academicians in legitimising cults, this is another disturbing factor.

For the sake of academic and science based research, I don't think the "cults" is a very accurate term to use to describe dangerous religious groups, spiritual abuse and spiritualised deception, so I won't be delving into this area of study much further as I find it lacking in academic and scientific rigour. It is a fascinating topic to ponder on a colloquial level, but I find it too vague unfortunately. I don't disagree there are highly dangerous religious groups out there with malicious intentions, or unhealthy and unethical religious practices but the concept of a cult is something that I believe doesn't really fit into a scientific or academic framework very well.