Newsletter: Combating Discrimination in the New Apostolic Reformation
Ultra-Conservative Groups Using Public Funds for Education
Dear friends,
This weekend, I will be attending the BrainMind.org/summit in Manhattan. It focuses on Neuromodulation, Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). As many of you know, I am deeply interested in neuroscience and AI and what new technologies are being developed. I look forward to learning from top experts in the field and sharing my concerns that this new technology is used ethically with guidelines to deter bad actors who would use it to control us. As I’ve remarked before, I believe, it’s your mind and only you should control it!
And speaking of controlling one’s own mind, this week’s Influence Continuum guest, Jonathon Sawyer, has gone through an all-too-pervasive struggle for many young people brought up in conservative Christianity: as a gay man, he was taught that his own sexual identity was “evil,” the result of demons that had to be cast out. His story is compelling but sadly, not unique, as thousands of LGBTQ youth in ultra-conservative religions are having to suppress who they truly are, believing themselves to be “evil.” Be sure to listen to this podcast, and please - share it with any young LGBTQ person you know or anyone else you feel should hear it! Phobia programming is the universal mind control technique and New Apostolic Reformation groups are recruiting aggressively. And of course, they will tell people who to vote for!
Jonathon Sawyer is urgently speaking out against involvement of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) in education for a very clear reason. He stated, “More people need to know that those who are discriminated against [sometimes] become those who discriminate.” In psychology, we call this the victim, victimizer paradigm. It is the idea that without healthy self-reflection, people exteriorize or project their own inner “demons” onto others. This cycle of religiously motivated harm is a concern for both individuals and society: “One of the concerns that I have…is that we’re seeing more and more taxpayer-supported religious schools in the United States, particularly at the K through 12 levels,” said Jonathon–“…[and] adolescents, young people, and children are especially susceptible to some of the most…harmful aspects of radical religion.”
Listen to the podcast, below:
As always, feel free to let us know what you think about these pieces, or what you’d like to see us talk about in the future. Thanks so much!
Foundational Course for Clinicians and Others
This course will help mental health professionals understand cults, brainwashing, thought reform, mind control, and undue influence. It will teach them how people can be programmed into a destructive authoritarian cult and inform them on undue influence and destructive cults. Additionally, they will learn how to recognize patients in need, several approaches that work, and guidelines when working with those affected by destructive cults.