I knew someone whose husband had been an AA member for years, and she seemed very invested not so much in AA but in their methodology, and the insistence on confession/admission/surrender. (She ran a small metaphysical cult I joined briefly, and she insisted everyone read the AA "Big Book" whether they were an addict or not.) I told her that I felt AA members simply swapped one addictio
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuotebonnieAn AA group is no different than the gang down at the Tavern, except for the fact that most of them probably aren't drunk. There are different kinds of "drunk" aren't there? :wink:
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

The AA "vocabulary" is deeply woven through many churches and various spiritual/religious organizations. In the Unity church, for example, a lot of church members (and indeed many of the ministers!) are 12 steppers, and so the AA lingo is already a part of Unity-speak. I've observed over the years that a group does not need a single leader to be a cult. The groupthink takes on
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

I'll admit to not having read a whole lot of Peck, but what I did, I found to be rather uninspired and uninspiring.
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteHopeThere is an alternative to AA that does help people. It is called Rational Recovery. It doesn't accept addiction as a disease that keeps people hooked on AA meetings, always wary of a relapse. Yes, I read a book about Rational Recovery several years ago, when a church I attended gave meeting space to every 12 step group in town. (I no longer attend any church, that being one &#
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

I don't think a person is ever powerless, since (IMHO) they can always choose whether and what to eat, drink, smoke, shoot, snort or do whatever. What I'm saying is that nobody can force an addiction upon you; only you can do that. I don't deny that 12 Step programs do help some people, but I'm sure it isn't the only way.
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

The first step being an admission or confession of powerlessness is troublesome, to say the least.
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

I first saw this story online last week, and today it is in the headlines on Yahoo: I realized over a year ago that Wikipedia was not very reliable precisely because of the fact that *anyone* can write or edit entries. Now we know this to be true, so Wikipedia has responded by a "tightening" of their rules. But they haven't tightened them enough, as you still don't need
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I can vouch for what Hope says about "alternative" healing or counseling "professionals" and even ministers getting people into the Forum. I saw it happen especially in new age churches like Unity, and it seemed to have a "viral" effect in that the people who went to the Forum seemed to draw in more and more people from the church, even including the minister. I
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I agree that there is such a thing as evil, but it is not a force. Evil is the accumulation of thoughts, words and deeds of people. When people "do evil" to others, then they become "evildoers". But to ascribe this evil or these evil deeds to the influence of some entity or force is not rational, in my opinion, and part of the problem with organized religion and churches.
Forum: Destructive Churches

Having spent a lot of years around "spiritual teachers" of various kinds, this "Master Teacher" dude needs a serious dose of reality, starting with his username on this board. No real "teacher" would ever call themself a "master". This character needs to be reminded that if he is truly a teacher, he is first and foremost a servant, and he should conduct him
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

^ The above post made me snicker. A friend of mine who has a SDA pastor in the family told me that while he preaches strict vegetarianism to the flock, he has been known to inhale beef burritos right after church! :roll: :lol:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Violence takes many forms. If a religion promotes an "us vs. them" mindset, it has already laid the foundation for violence, if only the violence of a philosophy of exclusivity.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteQuestionEverythingVicarion, Thanks for your posts. You have a lot of insight into the Unity Church. As do you, QE!!! Mine comes from many years of participation and observation. Whatever one may think of the "original" Unity teachings, they have been gradually supplanted over the past 30 or 40 years with new age, self-help, pop psych speak. At least the "old" U
Forum: Destructive Churches

Forgot to mention this: QuoteI knew a member of the Unity Church I attended who had taken the Forum. At the time, I really didn't know much about the Forum/Landmark. This man never tried to recruit me (or anyone else to my knowledge - at least at the time I was there), but it was very difficult communicating with him. It was almost as if he was from a different planet. I experienced the sam
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteThe other thing that bothered me about Unity was that every few weeks, another new age author/process would be the focus of the minister's sermon. They were open to everything except critical thinking. There were weekly meetings of ACIM groups, Reiki, the Enneagram, etc. Yes, and if you question or challenge any of this in any way, you are branded as "negative" or lacking in &
Forum: Destructive Churches

I should add that, after seeing a number of fascinating and somewhat frightening posts on this BBS about the Landmark Forum, it reminded me that there were several people taking the Forum seminars from Unity, a lot of cross-pollination so to speak, between the two. Unity members took the Forum training and invited their Unity friends to the "graduation" (which I avoided, knowing it woul
Forum: Destructive Churches

Wikipedia is definitely *not* a very good source of information on a great many subjects, because the entires are quite often written and re-written by people with an agenda. I've found some of the entries to be rather sad and/or laughable. It is far from a trustworthy source of reference.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Good for you for getting out of Unity! Yes, "magical/delusional thinking" is a big part of Unity. Like "manifesting" the right job, friends, business deals, even parking places. And the idea that no matter how terrible an event may be (the murder of a family member, for example) it is your own "lesson" to acept it as "good" and to forgive the murderer,
Forum: Destructive Churches

Thanks, I know it wasn't anyone's fault. :) The point of my lengthy post was that from my many years of experience and observation, I see that Unity and even Religious Science churches have now fully embraced channeled books like A Course in Miracles, Conversations with God, and the Abraham-Hicks books, and given free time and space to book study groups, precisely because these books
Forum: Destructive Churches

I logged in, wrote a lengthy post, and the forum deleted it (when I tried to post). Suffice it to say, both bozman and Cosmophilosopher are right on.
Forum: Destructive Churches