The Anti-Cult Movement: A Nativistic Response

Abstract

The anti-cult movement, or ACM, in the United States is a counter-movement to the wide variety of new religions which developed in the years following the Second World War. The anti-cult movement is opposed to new religions because it perceives in them a threat to the American family, traditional values and morals, and way of life which it is attempting to protect. This perception reflects a nativistic response to new religions. Nativism is understood to be a conscious attempt on the part of a society's members to protect that society's culture from the threat posed by contact with other cultures. The anti-cult movement is attempting to protect those elements of American culture which it perceives as being threatened by new religions. The sections of American society which feel most threatened, and which make up the body of the anti-cult movement, are family groups and Evangelical Christian and Jewish religious groups. The nature of the anti-cult movement, its methods, motivations, and possible implications of its existence, are all illuminated by the theory of nativism as it applies to the ACM.