The article I wrote ten years ago, based on Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of cult control, is now an ebook! I updated it and added more content and it is now available on Kindle for your reading convenience.
The original is still available for free right here on this website. If you’d like the new, more convenient read, head over to Amazon for The BITE Model and Mormon Control.
Many of the highly-promoted interpretations of LDS doctrines are divisive, shame-inducing, and thought-stopping in nature, as I’ve described in my book, Recovering Agency.
But what if there is a more loving, inclusive, mind-freeing, self-actualizing way to interpret some of those same doctrines that increases free agency rather than restricts it? Wouldn’t such an interpretation be more in line with the overall message of Jesus?
I wasn’t asking this question when I returned to Church this month after 15 years as an exmormon. But because I can now think about the doctrine differently than I’d originally been taught, not only was this answered in the affirmative, but I felt the Spirit to confirm it.
Yes, an atheist felt the Spirit. Don’t worry; I’ll explain.
In my book, I tackle Mormon doctrines that manipulate the emotions of members and eliminate flexibility of thought. Through writing and study, I’ve seen behind the curtain at how the illusions are performed. I’ve unframed the frame set for me by the LDS leadership, which leaves me free to build my own frames and hear my inner voice.
Holy Spirit depicted in a frame of Cherubs
The Spirit is an unseen “Holy Ghost,” a bodiless member of the Godhead who inspires baptized members of the LDS Church mostly via feelings, but also promptings, dreams, and visions. The feeling is described many ways – usually members are on the lookout for “warm and fuzzy,” “burning in the bosom,” “comfort,” or “peaceful.” The Spirit prompts people to be moral, do what is right, perform good works, follow the commandments, and keep their minds on the things of God.
(There’s also a thing called “The Light of Christ,” which is the feeling just like the Spirit that is given to those who are not baptized as Mormons. It’s a distinction without significant difference, so for the sake of this post, I’m going to just refer to both as “the Spirit” as if it’s all the same thing.)
Recovering Agency offers many examples of how everyday human emotions are reframed to be interpreted as the Spirit. These include:
I’ve heard others describe their profound confusion when they felt the Spirit while watching action movies or reading novels. Just last Sunday in Church, one of the speakers said she doesn’t feel the Spirit when praying, but she does when meditating, hiking in the mountains, or working at her job in the arts field. And people who have never even heard of Mormonism or Jesus Christ describe experiencing these feelings as part of their own religion, or just for being alive.
Last Sunday, I went back to Church for the first time in fifteen years.
Yes, to Mormon church.
I’ve been talking about doing this for awhile now, ever since the North Seattle Stake sent a letter inviting LGBT members back to a supposedly open and affirming atmosphere.
Here is the Church, here is the steeple; They have opened the doors. Do they welcome ALL people?
I didn’t leave the Church because I am gay. But that is certainly a factor that has kept me from going back. I am bisexual, a bit genderqueer, and polyamorous (meaning I have multiple lovers). I find deep personal meaning, even spiritual meaning, in recognizing these identities in myself and in practicing them in ways that official LDS doctrine deems sinful.
So the letter was significant: a branch of God’s kingdom recognizes that exclusion and judgment are not loving and that the Church has caused many of us pain. Their welcome revealed a promise of unconditional love that I hoped could extend to one such as me, a wandering sheep who has transformed into an autonomous, thinking being, who has no interest in being a bleating, following sheep again.
For a couple of years, I’ve publicly stated that if the Church would have me back, accept me just as I am, without changing me, I’d go back to Church and even get rebaptized. I’ve dreamed of a Mormonism devoid of the controlling, harsh, manipulative, top-down group-think tactics that I describe in my book, Recovering Agency. There’s plenty about Mormonism to set it apart from other Christian sects that it could retain its unique identity without all the shaming, toxic perfectionism, demand for purity, and other artifacts of unrighteous dominion. I imagined a future sort of Unitarian version of Mormonism, where some members were devout, others believed only parts of the gospel, others took the scripture stories as metaphorical instead of literal fact, and still others were complete atheists but who attended only for the sense of family and community.
Now here was a ward – no, a whole stake! – displaying at least a few of these traits. In their words, “Our ward includes members from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We would love for you to add your personal experience to ours… Your faith and your fellows need your strength, your testimony and your unique perspective on our gospel. You will be valued and welcomed as a part of our ward family.”
During the most recent LDS General Conference, Apostle David A. Bednar delivered a talk that promised to “hush” members’ fear. But in a highly manipulative series of twists and turns, he instead amps up fear, channels it down routes that benefit the Church, reframes the source of fear, and then in an exciting backflip into double-think, loads language to conflate fear with love.
This talk is spiritually abusive.
As I point out in Recovering Agency, high-demand groups instill phobias. This is not some random, baseless claim. Cult researchers have studied this at length. In my book, I spend a whole chapter describing instilled phobias within Mormonism: how it’s done, which phobias the Church instills, and why. The main purpose, of course, is to make you afraid to leave the Church, and also to make you afraid of disobeying God (with the Brethren in proxy as the voice of God).
This process is not simple and happens over a long period of time. It’s rare to see a talk that covers so much ground all by itself. Yet if any single talk is perfect for demonstrating how this process works, “Therefore They Hushed Their Fears” is the one.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Elder Bednar begins with a story of how scared he felt as a boy after breaking a window. (I’m sure if you were to run a statistical analysis of LDS Conference talks, you’d find that every general authority broke at least one window.)
Stories like this are persuasive because they put us in the speaker’s shoes. We are invited to relate to him and feel the emotions he conveys. All children have accidentally broken something, so this story conjures up strong, personal childhood emotions. It regresses the listener to an earlier time, when we were at the mercy of our parents. When we were afraid of punishment from an ultimate authority.
Elder Bednar survives the encounter, of course. He had loving parents who handled it well. As he expresses relief in his story, we are relieved along with him.
Thus we’ve begun the emotional ride he’s about to take us on.
Keep in mind that most viewers of this talk are already conditioned to trust Elder Bednar. He presents himself well and speaks in the usual soft tones of a general authority. Mormons recognize him as an apostle, a righteous and spiritual leader, chosen by God, and blessed with spiritual gifts. Few Mormons would question his motives. They have already suspended disbelief and are willing to hear all of his words uncritically, hopefully through “the Spirit,” an emotional, meditative state that leaves them open-minded and willing to accept whatever message he delivers.
Pearson is a relative newbie who wasn’t a General Authority when I was still a member. He is charismatic, animated, and funny.
While I liked his delivery style, the core of his message centered on thought reform. This message is, “Keep on believing no matter what.” Don’t let any trials, doubts, and questions steer you away from the Church. Keep your thoughts on the gospel and obey the commandments. This is a very literal form of mind control, as you are expected to continue thinking what the Church wants you to think.
No matter what.
Let’s take a closer look.
The title, “Stay by the Tree,” is a reference to Lehi’s dream about the Tree of Life, the narrow path leading to the tree, and the iron rod his children had to hold to in order to reach it safely. Other elements of this dream include a dangerous river, mists of darkness, and a “great and spacious building” which contained a multitude who mocked those those who held the rod, enticing them to leave the path.
Mixing the metaphor with Elder Ballard’s 2014 admonition to Stay In The Boat
Pearson begins with a deathbed story, which concludes, “[President Heber J. Grant's prayer] is a striking reminder that no one, at any age, is immune from Satan’s influence. Two of Satan’s most powerful tools are distraction and deception.”
This statement reframes the source of all doubt. Doubt can never come from any legitimate source. Any outside ideas that might confront your testimony (and cause cognitive dissonance) are deceptions from the devil! Those who take Elder Pearson seriously will, in the future, experience a knee-jerk thought-stopping reaction to anything that runs counter to their faith, reducing their ability to think critically.
April 2015 LDS General Conference seemed to have one major theme: Apostasy. The majority of talks were about bolstering personal faith in the face of doubt and dealing with wayward loved ones.
This session seemed as reactionary as last fall’s. Then, in the context of legalized marriage equality, leadership emphasized family values. This conference, in the context of political controversies (such as John Dehlin’s excommunication), and in light of the increasing tide of members who are struggling or outright leaving, it was as if leadership desperately tried to put the steam back into a suddenly boiling pot, as if these issues are new and emergent, when in fact, this atmospheric pressure has been slowly building for many years.
Leadership resorted to old, previously tried and true methods to retrieve and retain members. But those methods haven’t been working lately – and preaching reminders from the Conference pulpit isn’t going to make them work any better. The lid has already blown and the pot boileth over. Any attempts to put the water back will only smear it around and scald the skin.
(Hey, it’s not a perfect metaphor.)
In addition, the response to gay marriage continued. The women’s session primarily focused on family. The general sessions were sprinkled with several family values talks, and Hales gave a whole talk on protecting religious freedom — a reaction to the perception that marriage equality somehow will infringe on LDS civil liberties.
This post is a review of several talks, and in separate posts, I will provide an in-depth analysis of two particularly interesting talks: Elder Pearson’s “Stay by the Tree” reminded listeners of the usual LDS thought-stopping techniques to use when facing doubts. And Elder Bednar’s talk “Therefore They Hushed Their Fears” outright instills and reinforces previously-instilled phobias. Stay tuned for these reviews.
October 2014 LDS General Conference: Mind Control Overview
Last weekend, the Mormon Church held its semi-annual General Conference, two days of religious talks that all members are expected to watch.
I’ve listened to many Conference talks in my lifetime, both before I left the Church and since. This year, one talk stood out, because I saw lots of buzz about it on Twitter. It is talk, “Loving Others and Living with Differences,” by Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, given Saturday morning.
The overall theme of “Love” might seem to place this talk above reproach, yet it is a case study of LDS manipulation at its best. In just 15 minutes, Elder Oaks deployed enough thought reform to win a round Mind Control Bingo. So I’m here to break it down.
Some members will walk away from Elder Oaks’ talk feeling more unconditional love for their fellow man, with a better understanding of how to practice it.
But others will come away reaffirmed in their belief that they’re good, the outside world is evil, but in spite of this, maybe they should try to tolerate and endure all these horrible people as best they can. And that’s not love.
He starts by evoking one of the best lines Jesus ever said: “Love one another.” That’s some pretty obvious morality there. Difficult to argue with him, unless you’re a cartoon villain, or Ayn Rand.
To make sure you know he’s talking about love, he quotes the prophet, Thomas S. Monson: “Love is the very essence of the gospel.” This is an appeal to ideals, which generates euphoria and associates the organization with goodness. Anyone criticizing the Church will seem to be arguing against love itself. I’ve been accused of this many times: Why can’t you leave a good thing alone? We teach love and service!
After all this buildup, Oaks’ quickly flips love on its head, with a wince-inducing line. When I saw this quote on Twitter, I knew I had to listen to the whole talk:
“Why is it so difficult to have christlike love for one another? It is difficult because we must live among those who do not share our beliefs and values and covenant obligations.”
The Exponent II is publication for Mormon feminists. These open-minded women are true believing Mormons who question certain aspects of the LDS faith, especially those relating to women’s issues. It is named after the original Women’s Exponent newspaper, which was read by 10% of LDS women until the Church came out with an official women’s magazine in 1915. The Exponent II has a print publication and a blog.
In light of recent events in the LDS feminist world, some Mormons now question whether the Church is crossing the lines in to coercive behavior, and rightly so. Especially since LDS scriptures warn against “unrighteous dominion,”
April Young Bennett explores the elements of coercion employed by Church leadership, in a post called Coercion Within A Church That Values Agency. She skips past the obvious (disfellowshipping and excommunication), and covers how temple recommends are withheld from those who don’t think the right thoughts or say the right thing, and how the loved ones of accused members are brought into the mix to direct familial pressures against the heterodox member.
She points out the loaded language of the word “counsel,” which in reality means “commandment.” Members who ignore the counsel of their local leaders (Bishops and Stake Presidents), are, in effect, disobeying the commandments of the Lord.
She also mentions ostracism and how, when there’s a difference of opinion in how to interpret scripture or spiritual inspiration, by default the leader is always right, and the member is always wrong.
These tools are not always used to control the speech and behavior of members, but it happens all too often. Often enough that those who are not subject to it see the example of those who are. It hardly matters if most Bishops wouldn’t excommunicate vocal feminists. Feminists have still taken note of Kate Kelly’s excommunication and many have backed off. One example is all that is needed to modify the behavior of everyone.
Of course, this piece just barely begins to scratch the surface of the control techniques used by Mormon leadership. Most of these techniques don’t even let the member get to the point where they’re questioning at all. The techniques that Bennett outlines are a stop-gap measure for when the other thought control methods aren’t working, and the lost sheep begins to wander. The highest priority at this stage (to the totalist group) is to keep the questioning sheep from expressing their doubts aloud. This would break the spirit of unanimity that is preventing anyone else from questioning. This unanimity is often an illusion, since many are silently questioning, so those who ask openly must be stopped at any cost.
Part of the media, or have a blog? Interested in learning more about Luna Lindsey’s new book, Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control?
Please check out the press kit. You can also contact Luna to see if you are eligible to receive a review copy of the book.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EX-MORMON AUTHOR CONNECTS THE DOTS BETWEEN MIND CONTROL AND THE LDS CHURCH
Writing from personal experience, Luna Lindsey releases ‘Recovering Agency’ this July
SEATTLE, Wash. – When Luna Lindsey left the Mormon faith in 2001 at the age of 26, she didn’t think she had anything to recover from. But as she dug deep inside herself, she discovered that the church was using more than just spiritual answers to keep itself alive.
In Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control (July 22, 2014), Lindsey connects the dots between LDS policies, doctrines, and culture to reveal the secrets, coercion, and brainwashing she found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which she backs up with the most current scientific research on social psychology.
In her tell-all book, Lindsey shares a story about a friend who got pulled into a small cult. The cult’s leader ironically suggested to Lindsey that that she be “deprogrammed” from her experience in the LDS Church.
“I didn’t take her seriously at first, but something inside me chimed,” Lindsey says. “I began reading books about cults. What I discovered about other groups and their methods resonated strongly within me about how Mormonism operated.”
In those pages, Lindsey found healing, and she wanted to pass on her newfound knowledge. She connected online with other ex-Mormons and discovered that she was not alone.
“I discovered suffering souls who had been disowned by their families,” Lindsey says. “Those who had lost jobs for changing their religious views. Those who had lost their faith, but still pretended to believe for the sake of their families and marriages. Those who, sadly, told the truth about their beliefs and lost their spouses, their children.”
Recovering Agency outlines 31 manipulative mind control techniques used by the LDS Church to keep their members obedient, and the detrimental effects of belonging to such high-demand factions.
“I’d really like to help all people find freedom of thought, integrity, self-actualization, self-awareness, and awareness of the world around them,” Lindsey says. “This book focuses on how Mormonism infringes on these principles, but other organizations and even societal thought structures do the same.”
