The Beatitudes of Brainwashing

The thing about abuse of any kind is that it is, generally and most often, confusing. Religious and spiritual abuse, of course, is no different. It is a wolf well-dressed in sheep’s clothing, making it hard to spot and difficult to stop. Spiritual and theological words and premises are warped to support the system, rather than empower the people, and survivors often end up being taught to ignore their needs for the good of the greater group.

Religious trauma certainly makes leaving an unhealthy environment difficult, and it absolutely makes assessing new environments for health difficult, too. Enter: Robert Jay Lifton’s Eight Criteria for Thought Reform from his 1961 book on high-control cult environments. Despite being an old book, these eight criteria remain a robust framework for understanding how cults and other high-control environments maintain control of their group members, effectively brainwashing them to protect the system in power. Examining each criterion gives us an opportunity to imagine and consider what a healthy church environment might look like.

Lifton’s Eight Criteria for Thought Reform

1. Milieu of Control

• The group maintains strict control of communication within the group, and often reduces, restricts, or highly discourages access to information or media outside of the group. In a high-control setting, members of the group are taught to monitor themselves and to police one another.

• The Alternative: The group allows and encourages discourse on a variety of topics. Members are able to freely access information outside of the group. Participants do not excessively monitor one another’s behaviour.

2. Mystical Manipulation

   • Events are either planned to appear as mystical and spontaneous, or are interpreted as signs/prophecies that support the ideology of the group. The leader is seen as a mediator for God, and often makes authoritative displays of power. In many cases, historical and current events are rewritten to support the group’s exceptionalism.

   • The Alternative: The leader displays their humanity openly, with humility, and is aware of the power dynamic between themselves and the group members. Historical and current events are discussed within context and with an openness towards different interpretations. 

3. Demand for Purity

   • The group employs strict standards that are controlled through the use of guilt and shame. Members are taught and encouraged to think in a black-and-white fashion, with very clear ideals of “right” and “wrong”, of “pure” and “impure”, and of “good” and “evil”. 

   • The Alternative: The group encourages cognitive flexibility and discusses moral and social issues with nuance and openness. The leaders and members practice an awareness of things that are unclear and honour different theological arguments. Grey areas are acknowledged, and leaders and members practice considering diverse views.

4. Confession

   • The group requires and encourages regular routines of confession. Demonstrations of public confession are celebrated. The group lacks boundaries, and restricts personal privacy or confidentiality. Often, information gleaned from confession is used to further control the group.

   • The Alternative: Healthy confession and vulnerable sharing is encouraged in safe relationships that uphold boundaries and honour confidentiality. Information shared from confession is not utilized to further the goals of the group (for example: as a sermon illustration).

5. Sacred Science

   • The group elevates their doctrine and beliefs above all other sources of truth, and forbids criticism of the group’s ideals.

   • The Alternative: Members engage in open discourse about different interpretations of doctrine, and disagreement is allowed. People who disagree with or criticize the group are not excluded, shunned, or othered.

6. Loading the Language

   • The group uses specific words, phrases, and thought-stopping clichés in their discourse. Words and ideas are redefined or reinterpreted to fit the group’s ideology. For example: negative feedback becomes “persecution”, people who have left the group become those who have been “deceived”, or a hobby outside of the group might be called a “fleshly desire” and therefore discouraged.

   • The Alternative: Discourse is open and encouraged. People who have left the group or have criticized the group are not belittled or othered, but are treated with autonomy. The group does not spiritually bypass others but is able to hold space for a diverse range of experiences. 

7. Doctrine Over Person

   • Ideology is valued above personal experiences, even if personal experiences contradict doctrine or ideology. Members are encouraged to distrust and ignore contradictory feelings, and nonconforming interpretations of doctrine are pathologized.

   • The Alternative: Members are welcome to share personal experiences that do not conform to the ideology of the group, and leaders express understanding of the grey areas that may exist in their ideology. Contradiction and disagreement are allowed amongst the group.

8. Dispensing of Existence

   • People outside of the group are depicted as evil, unworthy, lost, and/or unenlightened. Members who leave or reject the doctrine of the group are rejected and excluded. Outsiders are seen as “less” than members of the group.

   • The Alternative: Outsiders are seen as fully human, autonomous beings with intelligence and ability to think for themselves. Outsiders are not seen as projects or people to “save”. Members maintain relationship with people who have left the group or changed their minds on doctrine or ideology.

Lifton, R. J. (1961) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China.