The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is a non-profit educational and anti-cult organization. It publishes the ''International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation'', "ICSA Today", and other materials.

History

ICSA was founded in 1979 in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

as the American Family Foundation (AFF) – 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 (CFF) which later became the

Cult Awareness Network The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization founded by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups it considered "cults", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It operated (initially under the ...

(CAN). It also developed links with Christian counter-cult movements such as the Christian Research Institute. In December 2004, it changed its named from American Family Foundation to International Cultic Studies Association.

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 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 Studie''s 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

Bryan Edelman and James T. Richardson state that

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has borrowed heavily from Western

anti-cult movement The anti-cult movement, abbreviated ACM and also known as the countercult movement, consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of religious groups that they consider to be ...

s, 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 and Marat S. Shterin said that Western anti-cult organizations, including the CSA, had been a source of anti-cult material in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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 claim that the ICSA provides no indication of how many of its cult characteristics are necessary for a group to be considered "cultic," and that 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. Cowan and Bromley also allege that the ICSA’s list is so broad that even mainstream religious movements such as

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, Evangelical Protestantism,

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

could fall within the criteria.Cowan, Douglas E. and Bromley, David G. ''Cults and New Religions: A Brief History''. Blackwell Publishing. 2009. pp. 4, 219–222.

References

{{Authority control Anti-cult organizations International organizations based in the United States International religious organizations Organizations based in Florida