J. Gordon Melton

Ex-members, even those with righteous complaints, tend to reconstruct their experiences — ambiguous situations at worst — into totally negative encounters.

John Gordon Melton (born 19 September 1942) is an American prolific and prominent religious scholar.

Quotes

  • After a decade of activity, the anti-cult movement had one significant accomplishment to its credit. It had succeeded in creating a pervasive negative image of the new religions and spreading a popular public prejudice against several groups which had become well known as "cults." However, it proved incapable of implementing any of its major program goals, which sought to severely regulate, inhibit the growth of, and eventually eliminate the cults altogether.
  • Ex-members, even those with righteous complaints, tend to reconstruct their experiences — ambiguous situations at worst — into totally negative encounters. They tend to demonize the leaders and turn the members into zombielike followers. Harmless comments are recast into sinister threats, group jargon into conspirational fantasies.
  • The rise of the militant anti-cult movement in America marks a new chapter in the history of human bigotry. The new bigotry turns both the ideology and the new scientific perspectives of the Enlightenment into the effective tools of modern scapegoating. The use of modern science and technology in the scapegoating solution was pioneered with great energy and effectiveness by the Nazis.
    • With Robert L. Moore, The Cult Experience, p. 95. Quoted in Kaplan 1997, p. 127
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