Steven Hassan

Undue Influence, Judge Barrett and the People of Praise Covenantal Community

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In an AP article written about Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court and her involvement with the People of Praise, Vice President Mike Pence was quoted from a television interview as saying, “The intolerance expressed during her last confirmation about her Catholic faith I really think was a disservice to the process and a disappointment to millions of Americans.”

In this blog, I assert that the issue is really not about religion, or about Catholicism, or religious freedom, but rather a legal issue: undue influence. This is the subject of my doctoral research which is focused on offering a scientifically validated instrument to help ascertain if undue influence has been exerted.

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Law Professor Robin Boyle-Laisure Discusses Using Trafficking to Prosecute Cult Leaders Like Raniere of NXIVM

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I recently watched the first four episodes of  The Vow, a new HBO series about the cult of Keith Raniere. It tells the story through the experience of former leaders of the cult Mark Vicente and his wife Bonnie Piesse and Sarah Edmondson and her husband, Anthony Ames and then expands to Catherine and her daughter India Oxenberg and Allison Mack. I think the first few episodes give a window for the public to see how  intelligent, educated well meaning people including actors, filmmakers, businesspeople and billionaires get deceptively recruited into a destructive cult. It is well known in the media as NXIVM but had other recruiting front groups like Executive Success programs or ESP. It was the secret DOS group which branded women by their genitals as a sign of their life commitment to be a slave to their master, ultimately Raniere. Keith Raniere, known to members as Vanguard, is a malignant narcissist and claimed to the world’s most intelligent person. Of course, it was only one of the many lies he told. What is true is that he had previously been busted for running a multi-level marketing group  (MLM) called Consumer’s Buyline which was shut down by twenty Attorneys General as an illegal pyramid scheme. Part of the settlement was Raniere was told to never to operate a multi-level marketing group again. However, the cult he created essentially was just this, as it sold coaching and seminars instead of products. Former NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson talked to me about being recruited into and escaping Raniere’s cult and bringing charges that led to him being convicted of 7 felony counts in the criminal case of United States vs. Raniere, which was conducted in the federal court in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn courthouse). He is awaiting sentencing while in jail. I did a long post on mind control methods used by NXIVM including a BITE model analysis.

Law Professor Robin Boyle-Laisure Discusses Using Trafficking to Prosecute Cult Leaders Like Raniere of NXIVM Read More

NXIVM & Hassan BITE Model and Undue Influence

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These three factors are known in psychological terms as “influence processes” and demonstrate that situations often determine human behaviors, often more than the values and beliefs of the individual. One of the most remarkable discoveries of social psychology is that people are hardwired to unconsciously respond to social cues. For example, a class of psychology students once conspired to use behavior modification techniques on their teacher. As the professor lectured, the students would smile and seem attentive when he moved toward the left of the room. When he moved to the right, the students acted bored and listless. Before long, the professor began to drift to the left, and after a few classes he spent each lecture leaning against the left wall. But when the students let the professor in on the experiment, he insisted that nothing of the sort had happened. He saw nothing odd about leaning against the wall, and angrily insisted that it was merely his personal lecturing style— something he had chosen to do of his own free will. This psychology professor was completely unconscious of how he had been influenced. Of course, under ordinary circumstances, the people around us are not all secretly conspiring to make us do anything. They simply act more or less as they have been culturally conditioned to act, which in turn conditions us. This is the way in which a culture perpetuates itself.

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What to Do About QAnon and Those Ensnared in It? Interview with Travis View

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Q is a high-security level clearance given to Intelligence operatives. Supposedly, QAnon was started by such a person. However, Gregg Housh (whom I met in the context of his organizing protests against Scientology all over the world), one of the original Anonymous founders, told me he knows the people who started QAnon! It was intended as a total joke. A goof on Trumpers. It was only when they realized they could sell merchandise and make money that they really expanded it. Then, the Russians got involved.

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Sex and Labor Trafficking Awareness, Survivor Empowerment, and Saving Children From Abuse: A Discussion With Rachel Thomas, M. Ed.

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This week, I interviewed Rachel Thomas, who is not only a survivor of human trafficking but an author, teacher, speaker, and mentor. I have known her for years. We met through Carissa Phelps (founder of runawaygirl.com) at a Joint Regional Intelligence Center training for approximately six hundred law enforcement, including members of Homeland Security, the CIA, Police Chiefs, and others. This was an opportunity to teach about trafficking and mind control, and promote a better understanding of how to treat those who’ve been recruited into trafficking by pimps and traffickers. We helped them realize trafficked people are victims of mind control and, as such, need to be treated with respect. They are someone’s child and their lives have value. They did not want to be enslaved, exploited, and abused.

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Evangelical Support of Trump, Authoritarian Politics, and Transitioning: A Discussion With Chrissy Stroop, Ph.D.

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Russian history expert Dr. Chrissy Stroop is back with a follow-up interview. She is an author, editor, and Stanford Ph.D., not only an activist. One of the reasons I wished to have her on was to discuss and promote the book she helped to edit, along with Lauren O’Neal, Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church. There is an exodus of people leaving authoritarian Christian organizations that use BITE model influence methods characteristic of destructive cults. Today’s religious media conglomerate which includes talk radio, television, and internet channels are a vast source of influence throughout the world. These are run by religious figures who have amassed huge fortunes from donations by true believers. Many of these pastors, preachers, apostles, and prophets preach a form of prosperity theology- give your money to the leader at their “church” and donors will be blessed and receive great wealth in return. Supposedly. But usually, they do not but they are told that they did not pray hard enough or that they had “sin” they need to confess. Faith must be total with no room for doubt.

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The Dangerous World of Harmful Yoga Cults With Yoga Teacher and Author Matthew Remski

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Earlier this month, Matthew Remski interviewed me for his podcast “Conspirituality” (my interview starts at the 37-minute mark) where we talk about my newest book, The Cult of Trump, and explore the overlaps between the cults of personality that destroy political, wellness, and spiritual cultures. We discuss changes in cultic technique in the age of lockdown, and how best to maintain contact with a person transformed by manipulation.

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‘Rama Trauma Trump – I Left the Cult and Now Look What Happened’ With Author Mark Laxer

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I am happy to share a new, free, graphic nonfiction book entitled, “Rama Trauma Trump” written by my friend and former cult member Mark Laxer. It is based upon his earlier book, Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult which is the true story of Mark, who, at the age of seventeen, longed to see for himself what lies beneath the surface world of reason. Mark’s spiritual path took an unexpected turn when his meditation teacher, Frederick Lenz, learns to use fear, sleep deprivation, and LSD as tools of persuasion. After leaving Lenz’s inner circle, Mark faces headwinds and haunting memories as he bicycles across America. More than a vehicle for exercising and exorcising subtle ghosts of the past, the bike trip serves as the frame through which this combined adventure story, self-help book, and expose is narrated.

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Former FBI Hostage Negotiation Chief & Author Gary Noesner Discusses Waco, Anti-Government Conspiracy, and Negotiating

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The last few years and, especially 2020, has polarized many people from family, friends, and country. There seems to be a big divide in politics, religious beliefs, and even whether science and experts are trustworthy. Most of us know someone–friend, family member, neighbor–that is caught up in a conspiracy theory or harmful belief system. To help them, I have always been a firm believer in putting yourself in their shoes, to understand how they “see the world” in order to help them. Respect and compassion and patience are all required.

Former FBI Hostage Negotiation Chief & Author Gary Noesner Discusses Waco, Anti-Government Conspiracy, and Negotiating Read More

Russia, Trump, Propaganda and Disinformation: Discussion With Investigative Journalist and Analyst Kseniya Kirillova

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A few weeks ago, Russian journalist Kseniya Kirillova asked me to do an interview with her about my book The Cult of Trump. I asked my friends if they knew of her work and they responded affirmatively, confirming that she was well respected. So, I decided to read a number of her articles which were highly critical of Putin, Russia, and activities that are despicable. Her article was entitled, “Veneration of Donald Trump is a Personality Cult.”

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