Dear Friends,
I'm studying the common traits of abusive religious groups. If you were in an abusive situation in an organization, please fill out this survey. Sharing your thoughts and experiences here will help people who face the same challenges you may have faced alone years ago.
My dysfunctional cult experience was in the Hare Krishna movement from 1978 to 1988. I wrote the book, Betrayal of the Spirit (University of Illinois Press, 1997), to expose what happened to that group. Since my knowledge of other fundamentalist religious groups is limited, I'm especially interested in hearing your insights and stories. Your first impressions are most valuable to me, so please go through the survey quickly. You can answer most of the questions with a simple "yes" or "no," but I encourage you to write a few sentences to explain each answer. You may write as much as you want on any of the questions, so feel free to use extra paper if necessary. You may find this a healing experience and I will appreciate whatever you contribute.
Since I am writing a book on this subject, I plan to quote from these questionnaires. Therefore, to protect your identity, you may provide a pseudonym. As the book progresses, I may need to interview several respondents in more depth. If you are willing to give an interview, please provide your email address or phone number. I will, of course, keep these confidential.
I've designed the questionnaire so that you can easily copy and paste it into an email or print it out and write on it. Click here to get a pre-addressed email envelope: contact info.. Or print out and mail to: Nori Muster, P.O. Box 41750, Mesa, AZ 85274.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation and wish you the best on your path of healing.
Sincerely,
Nori Muster
Questionnaire for Ex-members of Abusive Groups
Real name (optional): Pseudonym:
Contact information (optional) email: phone:
Gender: Date and place of birth:
Race: Nationality: Family religion:
Name of the group you joined: Location(s):
Approximate dates you were a member:
During your involvement, did you keep an outside residence and job?
Was there a place where you could have joined and moved in?
Your job in the group: Occupation now:
If you were not required to live in and work for the group, did you maintain a certain level of tithing (monetary support) and volunteer work?
The group's basic beliefs could be described as coming from:
__ Hindu, __ other Eastern (describe)
__ Christian, __ Catholic, __ Jewish, __ Muslim
__ Secular humanist, __ other non-religious philosophy (describe)
__ other tradition (describe)
Did the group follow authentic religious traditions? i.e., rituals? scriptures? clothing? beliefs?
Please describe a significant incident or revelation that made you decide to join:
Did the group betray its religious traditions? i.e, through abuse? criminal activity? hypocritical interpretations?
Would you give an example of a specific betrayal that bothered you?
Were the leaders on an equal level with followers, or were they on a pedestal, or deified?
Do you believe the leadership was honest? Did they have rules against criticizing the leaders?
Please describe the group's attitudes toward the mainstream culture.
Did the group give a false impression to members? to the outside world?
Please describe the group's attitudes toward money and material comforts. Did they seem to practice what they preached?
Did the group discourage your ties with outside friends and family?
Did the group profess an "end of the world" or judgment day scenario?
To your knowledge, was there criminal activity going on in the group?
If there was, or if there was a potential of criminal activity, do you think you were in deep enough denial that you may have gone along with it?
Did women enjoy equality in the home and work place? or were women denigrated, abused? Did your group require women to wear special outfits to cover their bodies? their heads?
To your knowledge, were children abused in the group?
Did you notice a prevalence of gossip, secrets and difficulty communicating?
Please describe a significant incident or revelation that made you decide to leave:
Do you have any contact with your former group now? i.e., do you maintain friendships with other ex members, or current members? visit the place occasionally? maintain the practices or beliefs? still follow news of the group from afar, on the Internet, etc.?
Does your current work involve helping others who were in cults?
Do you have regrets about your involvement?
Did your self-esteem suffer due to being involved in this group?
How are you healing from your experience?
What advice do you have for people who are searching for spirit, who might be vulnerable to joining an abusive cult?
Alternative Question #1 (if you were raised in a group)
If you were raised in the group, please explain something of what that was like, how old you were when you were able to leave, and what your adjustment process has been like. How much of your experience do you remember?
Alternative Question #2 (if you are a friend or relative of a cult member)
If your friend or relative joined a group, please tell me what it has been like for you. How much do you know about your loved one's group? Have you gone to visit? Has it been difficult to stay in contact? In what ways do you perceive that they changed? Do you worry about their welfare? Did they "move in" to the group, or were they able to keep their own home, job, family, life?
Or print out and mail to: Nori Muster, P.O. Box 41750, Mesa, AZ 85274.
Betrayal Index | previous page
