Cults and Extreme Belief (review)

Exposés of "cults" were popular in 2018, owing in part to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Waco siege and the fortieth anniversary of the Jonestown tragedy. A&E's series on Cults and Extreme Belief begins with an episode dedicated to NXIVM, which drew national attention in 2017 after the media reported on members having their genital regions branded with the initials of movement leader Keith Raniere. This story likely inspired the entire series. Subsequent episodes feature the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Children of God (The Family International), the United Nation of Islam (UNOI), the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary (an offshoot of the Unification Church that gained national attention in 2018 for a service in which members brought their rifles to church), the Twelve Tribes, and the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The final two episodes are called "The Survivors Speak" and feature round-table discussions between apostates of these various groups, sociologist Janja Lalich, and host Elizabeth Vargas.

Cults and Extreme Belief might more accurately be titled Atrocity Stories. David Bromley, Anson Shupe, and Joseph Ventimiglia coined this term to describe accounts––whether true or false––deployed to stoke moral outrage and mobilize resources against the perceived offenders (Journal of Communication 1979). While each episode is nominally "about" a different religious group, there is minimal discussion of the actual beliefs and practices of the group. Instead, each episode features an apostate who tells a disturbing––and generally credible—story of abuse. The apostate's narration is accompanied by photographs and occasional re-enactments. In several episodes, a situation is created where the apostate must present a "letter of disassociation" to the group that abused them, report them to federal authorities, or otherwise "confront" the group. The confrontation is always depicted at the end of the episode to create a dramatic climax. The show's website also provides hotline numbers for viewers experiencing abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health issues.

While apostates are central to each episode, active members of these groups are rarely interviewed. A notable exception is an interview with Hyung Jin Sean Moon, leader of the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary. The episode on FLDS also gives extensive screen time to an FLDS woman and is certainly the best and most nuanced episode in the series. The show's website does host letters written by The Family International responding to the accusations of abuse featured in the show.

Expert analysis is tilted heavily toward voices that can reinforce the narrative of destructive cults as a social problem. Stephen Kent and especially Janja Lalich are the most prominently featured and are described as "cult experts." Both of these scholars are known for their theories of coercion in new religious movements. Robert Pardon of the New England Institute for Religious Research, who works as an "exit counselor," also makes an appearance and is described as a cult expert. The only scholar not described as a cult expert is Stephen Finley, who provides context on black religion in America. While Lalich briefly mentions her work Bounded Choice (2004), the experts are primarily utilized to respond to and affirm the stories of the apostates. Lalich is shown exclaiming "Oh my God!" as a former NXIVM member recounts women being stripped naked and paddled. At one point, she states bluntly that the Jehovah's Witnesses "misuse and abuse the Bible."

The series never really provides a definition of a cult and addresses this question only obliquely. Instead, the audience is led to assume that cults are a monolithic force in which their defining feature is the abuse of members. A number of visual cues are used to reinforce this idea. The opening sequence for each program features a montage of images in rapid succession that includes footage of the Branch Davidian compound burning, a photo of Warren Jeffs with a child bride, a photo of a scar on a NXIVM member, and a woman from the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary holding an AR-15. The implication is that all of...