Joining and Leaving the Moonies / Unification Church - Cult Expert Dr. Steven Hassan | Ep. 1743

Please join us today as Dr. Steven Hassan tells us the story of how he was recruited into a cult (The "Moonies"), and how he became one of the world's experts in cults.

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If you value Steven's wisdom/insight/experience, and/or if you are in need of support dealing more effectively with high demand religions or cults, please check out these two workshops:

Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians: https://courses.freedomofmind.com/cou...

Recovery after Mormonism Workshop w/ Dr. John Dehlin:
https://courses.freedomofmind.com/cou...

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Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction to Steve's work
00:09:00 Steven’s Jewish upbringing
00:27:00 Education emphasis, Liberation from Pharaoh
00:33:00 What made Steve vulnerable or interested in the Moonies?
00:40:00 Three women at college cafeteria flirt with him
00:48:00 Being taken to a retreat without consent
00:51:30 Introduction to Moonie theology
01:00:00 First spiritual experience
01:07:00 “You’re special”
01:11:00 Samantha’s reactions re: her conversion to Mormonism
01:14:30 Moonie theology & brief history
01:29:00 Cult “copy-cat-ism” of Mormon politicians
01:34:45 Converting to Moonies and dropping out of college
01:39:30 Destruction of identity, & other cult tactics
01:41:00 “Child of God”, Leader worship, negative thoughts are Satanic
01:43:00 Fear, turning off doubts, Parallels w/ Mormonism and Moonies
01:45:30 Music as emotional manipulation, Pledges
01:51:00 BITE model, Behavioral manipulation in Moonies
01:53:00 “Cain/Abel relationships”, obedience mindset
01:57:00 Sexual controls, Homophobia
02:00:10 Gender and racial divides, rebranding
02:07:00 Parallels w/Mormonism
02:17:00 Is it scary to criticize the Moonies?
02:19:00 Hassan's political involvement & recruiting
02:24:30 Hassan has a near-fatal crash
02:26:00 Throat slitting and Moonies, Information and Thought control (I & T of BITE)
02:28:00 Always “upping’ the goals, Lying, thought-stopping
02:33:00 Information about leader withheld & hidden from members
02:35:00 Being willing to die or kill for Mr. Moon
02:40:00 How he got out of the Moonies - family connections
02:44:00 Superiority and isolation
02:47:00 Being moved by the love of his father
02:54:00 Learning about “Brainwashing” and Chinese Thought Control
02:57:00 Dominoes of belief fall. Cried for 3 hours. Shame & other feelings
03:01:45 “Anti-Moonies”
03:04:30 Reality testing to see if you’re in a cult or unhealthy organization
03:08:00 Buddhist story of town well being poisoned…would you drink it to fit in?
03:13:00 Feeling terrified to leave, making movies, aligning self with high-profile people
03:17:00 Deprogramming self, Talking to Dr. Lifton, Deciding to become an activist
03:21:00 Meeting Lifton, dedicating his life to this cause
03:25:45 Love is stronger than mind control

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