Customer Reviews

Bearing False Witness?: An Introduction to the Christian Countercult

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Apparently the seething reviewer in the above review believes that ones "truth claims" justify bigotry and aggression towards those of the Christian minority. This book takes a look at the very important and neglected factor of Christian antagonism towards Christian. This antagonism consists of hatemongering, misrepresentation, and simple prejudice, and it is important to recognize this and call to account those "Christians" who use the devil's tools for their purposes. This is a very even toned and scholarly book (unlike this review!) and demonstrates what is clear to any member of one of these religions which has suffered from such prejudice. Gibbon pointed out that Christians have killed more Christians than the Romans ever did and this mentality, although not the action itself, persists to this day.

If you are an evangelical Christian, it is unlikely you will like this book; at the very least it will make you uncomfortable. If you are not academically oriented, the prose will tend to put you off. If you cannot stand sociology, you will despise this book. If you believe that religious pluralism is fine as long as it is orthodox, evangelical Christianity, then you will loathe this book with a white hot hate.

On the other hand, if you are a turn-the-other-cheek, love your neighbor, let's-look-for-common-ground Christian with an ecumenical bent, then this book is worth a look. It asks questions well worth asking, particularly about how a religious worldview places the borderlines on a person's internal reality map, and how these can distort, as well as divide people and groups if great care is not taken to understand them fully.

Granted, this is not a perfect book. The book is suffused with academic language that makes it hard for the average reader to keep up with, and the author gets some facts wrong in regards to several faith traditions, including my own. But the concerns raised by this book remain valid and valuable: What is a cult, and who gets to decide what a cult is? If it is believed that an individual's soul at stake, do the ends justify the means? Is it alright to use un-Christlike methods to bring people to Christ? Does this represent hypocrisy or pragmatism? Are the people in the countercult movement attempting to aggressively shore up their own position against growing religious competition in a pluralistic society, or are they simply trying to alert the unwary to what they consider dangerously unorthodox views and conduct in groups trying to join the mainstream? These and other questions are worth asking and answering. Although the book is better at the former than the latter, there is value in the articulation, and a push in the correct direction. Definitely an interesting read, if you can tolerate a little cognitive dissonance along the way.

This is an excellent look at the Christian countercult - the spiritual heir to the Inquisition or Vishinsky's show trials.

I do find one of the comments on thsi book weird though - The American Sociology review makes the retarded remark that we gain "understandings of the Republican advantage in maintaining control over media framings compared to the Democrats". Wait ... The REPUBLICANS have an advantage in media framings? Don't sociologists ever watch network news? Or read a newspaper? Or see a movie? Holy smokes people. Maybe the reviewer is confusing "Christian" with "Republican".

I quite literally laughed out loud when I read through this tome. It not only misjudges the dynamic of Western world views in conflict, it presupposes an ivory tower superiority without consideration of the truth claims of those against which it levels its criticisms. It would be similar to a social worker criticizing the engineering blueprints to a cobalt pulse engine without having a background in material science. What a monstrous cerebral vacuum sociology has become. Though cynicism is attempted, it does not shield the ignorance herein. Far greater minds and work have preceded this bit of flotsam. Save your funds for serious science and genuine study...