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Speaker blasts cults
By Joe Palmershein
 Media Credit: charles martin Douglas Augustin has been speaking to inform people about the ability to use mind control in cults for about 20 years.
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Speaking from behind a virtual wall of books with titles like “Combating Cult Mind Control,” Doug Augustin exhorted the dangers of cults with a serious tone, but with wit and humor as well.
Augustin is the former president of the anti-cult group, Free Minds. He held the position for the better part of eight years.
Free Minds was founded in 1974. Originally, there was a hotline for the organization, but currently there is only a Web site. When Augustin was president, the hotline was linked to his house. He received calls at all hours of the day from places as far away as New Zealand.
The reasons Augustin gave for becoming interested in cults were personal and hit close to home. About 20 years ago, Augustin’s brother had become involved with the Unification Church, whose members were known as moonies.
Augustin’s brother left two jobs and his apartment. His family’s first thought was simply that he had met a girl.
As it turned out, Augustin’s brother had not met a girl, but had become a moonie. Moonies could be found at a variety of public places. With their yellow robes and trademark hairstyle: a ponytail with the rest of the head shaved bare; they were treated by many as merely a nuisance.
The moonies, however, were not just a mere nuisance, as Augustin explained.
The power of cults resides in their ability to completely control members. Augustin had a good metaphor for those who questioned why people just don’t leave after they discover they are in a cult.
He said that if someone put a gun to a person’s head and insisted they agree to something, they would almost automatically comply.
“The gun isn’t present, but the threat is still there,” Augustin said.
Cults are very profitable, which is the reason why they exist. When one can get members to work for free and live without many material possessions, one can make a hefty sum of money.
Augustin said there are several criteria a group must meet to be considered a cult. The first is “an obsessive devotion to a person or an ideal.”
However broad this may seem, Augustin was quick to provide a disclaimer.
“We’re not talking about the people who think Elvis is still alive or the people who follow the Grateful Dead,” Augustin said.
The dangers of cults are applicable on college campuses because recruiters target students who may be lonely or away from family. They can be easy prey for cult recruiter.
But having speakers like Augustin to inform college students about the dangers of cult life, the recruiter’s job is made that much more difficult.
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