Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: spots on September 05, 2003, 05:29:00 PM
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Found an unusual link posted by Rick Ross, cult expert, on the cultnews.com site. It sheds some light onto why the Mormon staff and owners may not consider Program techniques odd or abusive.
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Are Mormon missionaries "brainwashed"?
"Mormon missionaries? lifestyle is filled with structure and sacrifice," reports Michigan's Midland Daily News.
Mormon men are expected to serve two years as missionaries, while for women such service is optional and only lasts 18 months.
The lifestyle and rules of Mormon missionaries is demanding and rigid. They are specifically trained to present six precise and pre-set one-hour lessons in exact succession to potential converts.
Every day missionaries get up at 6:30 a.m., study the scriptures for three hours and then begin working their assigned area. They have one hour for lunch, then work until supper and continue working in the evening until near Bedtime, which is at 10:30 p.m.
Their required dress includes white shirts, black ties and slacks. Men must be clean-shaven, have short hair and avoid face piercings. Women must wear blouses, sweaters and skirts and also appear very conservative. They must address each other as "Sister so-and-so" or "Elder such-and-such." They don?t use first names.
All this can be seen as a way of breaking down individual identity. Missionaries may cease to see themselves as unique and instead form a group sense of identification and related mindset.
Mormon missionaries are only allowed to phone their families twice a year, on Christmas and Mother?s Day.
Cut off from even their families, the missionaries have no meaningful outside frame of reference, but are largely locked into an environment completely controlled by their church. And this is reinforced by the rule that they must never be alone, are required to work in pairs and always be within speaking distance of each other at all times.
This can be seen as a means of monitoring every missionary, closely and constantly.
All media is prohibited. This includes television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Access to information is thus controlled.
One missionary told the Midland Daily News, "It?s about focus. For me, after I talk with my parents, I mean it?s really nice to talk to them, but it is so hard to get back on track."
And a Mormon missionary can expect to be moved on short notice, if reassigned to another area they must pack up to leave and be gone within 24 hours.
One missionary said, "We are strained, stretched and stressed."
It is interesting to note the parallels that can be seen between the rigidly structured life of a Mormon missionary and the established criteria of coercive persuasion.
Of course Mormon missionaries freely volunteer for service and such parallels might also be drawn regarding other religious orders and/or the Marine Corp.
But is being a Mormon missionary the equivalent of becoming a soldier? And are city neighborhoods somehow a beachhead?
[Posted by Rick Ross at 9:35 AM] [Link]
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:question: Now that grand daughter is home, this is the best you can do? What are you "trying" to say? :wink:
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If it has to be spelled out for you, you probably wouldn't get it anyway.
Deborah
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On 2003-09-05 15:39:00, Deborah wrote:
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If it has to be spelled out for you, you probably wouldn't get it anyway.
Deborah"
Deborah - Aren't you a judgmental Southern Baptist??
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/jimmy.htm (http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/jimmy.htm)
November 16, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, http://www.wayoflife.org/ (http://www.wayoflife.org/)
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Not everyone in the South is SB.
Off the point again.
If you every have the opportunity to chat with Ol' Jimmy, ask him if he'd send his kids to a Mormon-based BM facility. And while you're at it, ask if he thinks he'd benefit from an est/Lifespring seminar.
I commend Carter for being a "live and live kinda guy"- an obvious contradiction to his religion.
Nevertheless, I think the answers would be No, and Hell No.
Interesting too, is the fact that programs that are Christian based seem to be proud of it. They advertise as such.
Deborah
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None of the WWASP schools are Mormon based, Christian based, Catholic based,Jewish based, etc. If you want a christian based program, be prepared to pay out the wazoo for them, and I mean double or quadruple what wwasp program tuition is. I see christian based programs put the healing in GOD, many programs including wwasp programs bring the healing process to each person, from the inside-out. Christian based programs, from what I've seen, bases the healing from the outside in, which is a scapegoat, backdoor, whatever you call it. God healed me...vs. I did it myself with what I learned. God, Higher Power, the Universe, Spirit is all a matter of perception/ interpretation. Discussing religion is like discussing politics...ain't goin' nowhere fast.
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I agree. The thread wasn't intended to "discuss" religion.
Deborah
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Duh, it's that the WWASP facilities are amazingly similar in their actions in this article... obviously an indication that they model the programs after Mormons...
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After the Mormon missionaries? I guess if you really stretch your imagination it could fit. If Straight, SAFE, CEDU, WWASPS, and all the offshoots are the "same" then ALL programs and even the military follow the Mormon missionary rules? I don't get it.
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-18 13:08 ]
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Karen Z - I know that Abundant Life Academy has a campus in Washington UT, a suburb of St. George. What's your take on the employment of the Mormon's at that campus?
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-18 13:10 ]
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A MUST READ ....
My Escape From The Cult
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m02.html (http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m02.html)
:eek:
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http://www.mormonstoday.com/991212/D2Stock01.shtml (http://www.mormonstoday.com/991212/D2Stock01.shtml)
LDS RM Recovers from Wilderness Attack (Last of Runaway Teens in Custody)
Salt Lake Tribune 9Dec99 D2
By Kelly Kennedy and Greg Burton: Salt Lake Tribune
BERYL JUNCTION, UTAH -- An LDS Returned Missionary serving as a youth counselor to a program for wayward youth, is unharmed after the eight youths he and a co-worker were leading on a wilderness camping trip overpowered them and escaped. Kirk "Marty" Stock was beaten with juniper sticks and bound with duct tape along with his co-worker, BYU student Sunshine Fuller. Both Stock and Fuller were otherwise unharmed and all eight youths have been found and accounted for.
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The U.S. Congress also has taken interest in the Utah-based WorldWide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP), the behavior-modification umbrella organization to which Dundee belonged.
House Representative George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, last month asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to review WWASP's tax-exempt status and investigate whether the organization has received any special tax treatment in the past.
One of Rep. Miller's congressional aides said this week that the congressman also is preparing to ask U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to open a federal criminal investigation into alleged child mistreatment at WWASP programs .