From Exotics to Brainwashers: Portraying New Religions in Mass Media

Abstract

This essay examines how American magazines have portrayed new religions since the World War II. Media depictions have changed dramatically from the 1950s to the present. Specifically, journalists in the 1950s and early 1960s used the dual Cold War themes of exoticism and subversion to depict new religions. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, subjects and themes began to change. Newsmagazines ambivalently reported on the gurus, Asian new religions, and occult spirituality attracting some in the burgeoning youth counterculture with a mixture of exoticism and wariness. By the mid-1970s, media images became more ominous. News, general interest, and entertainment media represented new religions as a growing "cult menace" and highlighted the dangers that brainwashing groups posed to unsuspecting followers. The 1978 Jonestown mass suicide seemed to confirm such negative cult stereotypes, leading to homogenous portrayals of new religions that continued through the 1990s. In explaining such changes over time, the essay ends by proposing five complimentary theses for understanding late-twentieth-century mass media representations of new religions.

Involvement in a New Religious Movement: From Discovery to Disenchantment

“…Groups such as Muktananda's Siddha Yoga have often been labeled cults by ex-members or cult-awareness groups. The popular understanding of cultic involvement has been influenced by media representations fueled by dramatic incidents involving nontraditional religious groups and allegations of brainwashing (McCloud, 2007;Olson, 2006;Richardson & van Driel, 1997). The Jonestown mass murder-suicide in 1978, the Branch Davidian siege in 1993, the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, the Heaven's Gate suicide in 1997, and the deaths of the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in 2000 all highlighted the need for an explanation for such irrational behavior (Bromley & Melton, 2002;Lewis, 2005;Wessinger, 2009).…”

Demonizing ISIL and Defending Muslims: Australian Muslim Citizenship and Tony Abbott's “Death Cult” Rhetoric

“…This has influenced the harsh attitudes towards them of some Western religious bodies and their followers, which in turn have become historically and culturally embedded in many societies, through the mass media and organized opposition in the form of the Anti-Cult Movement (Pfeiffer 1992;Melton 1998, 614;Olson 2006;McCloud 2007;Neal 2009). Indeed, as cults and sects have been associated with moral and martial insurrection -including allegations that they are inspired by, or advancing the cause of, Satan -they have been incorporated within the frameworks of Western theological and political demonologies.…”

Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches

“…Nonetheless, the representations of Witchcraft in the mass media and in popular books are overwhelmingly positive. Few other new religious movements have entire shelves in mainstream bookstores devoted to books by practitioners of the religion or magazines distributed on mainstream news stands that promote the religion in a positive light (McCloud 2006).…”