International Cultic Studies Association


The International Cultic Studies Association is a non-profit anti-cult organization focusing on groups it defines as "cultic" and their processes. It publishes the International Journal of Cultic Studies and other materials.

History

ICSA was founded in 1979 in Massachusetts as the American Family Foundation — one of several dozen disparate parents' groups founded in the late 1970s by concerned parents. For a time it was affiliated with the Citizens’ Freedom Foundation which later became the Cult Awareness Network. It also developed links with Evangelical Christian counter-cult movements such as the Christian Research Institute
ICSA is a non-profit organisation, with a stated mission "to study psychological manipulation, especially as it manifests in cultic and related groups". Michael Langone, ICSA's Executive Director, defines a cult as "a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing, and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control designed to advance the goals of the group’s leader, to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community".

Publications

Print magazines

In 1984, the American Family Foundation's early print magazine, The Advisor, was replaced by the Cult Observer and the Cultic Studies Journal.

''Cultic Studies Review''

In 2001, publication of the Cultic Studies Journal ceased, and the AFF began publishing the Cultic Studies Review as an Internet/online journal with triennial print editions. In 2005, the final AFF published edition of Cultic Studies Review was released. Subsequent editions were published by the International Cultic Studies Association until 2010.

''International Journal of Cultic Studies''

In 2010, the first print and online editions of the International Journal of Cultic Studies were published online, as a self-described "refereed annual journal that publishes scholarly research on cultic phenomena across a range of disciplines and professions".

Reception

Connections with post-communist governments

Edelman & Richardson state that China has borrowed heavily from Western anti-cult movements, such as ICSA, to bolster their view of non-mainstream religious groups, and so the support campaigns of oppression against them. In a previous article Richardson & Shterin said that Western anti-cult organizations, including the CSA, had been a source of anti-cult material in Russia.

Criticism

In their book, Cults and New Religions: A Brief History, sociologists Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley describe the ICSA as a "secular anticult" organization. They point out that the ICSA provides no indication of how many of their characteristics are necessary for a group to be considered "cultic". The checklist creators do not adequately define how much of certain practices or behaviors would constitute "excessive", nor do they provide evidence that any of the practices listed are innately harmful. Finally, Cowan and Bromley criticize the ICSA list as being so broad that even mainstream organizations such as Buddhism, Evangelical Protestantism, Hinduism, and the Roman Catholic Church fall within the criteria.