23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Odd that he uses the word "cult" in title. He doesn't think they exist at all., July 24, 2005
This review is from: Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (Religious Information Systems) (Vol 7) (Paperback)
I find it extremely disingenous for J. Gordon Melton to use the word "Cult" in the title of his work, when he obviously doesn't believe that any religion is a cult at all. He apparently doesn't mind taking the money of people that want to learn about cults. The title of this book should be, "There Is No Such Thing as a Cult: All Religious Organizations are Equally Valid and Useful". I imagine that Melton finds it humorous that he tricks people that are buying this book into thinking they are getting a compilation of exposes on various cultic organizations -- when he is really selling a long argument about why each organization shouldn't even be called a cult, but rather a "new religious movement". This author is a huckster.
J. Gordon Melton co-founded cult apologist organization CESNUR, heads CESNUR USA, and directs the Institute for the Study of American Religion (ISAR). This Methodist minister (ordained elder in the United Methodist Church) is seen by many Christian and secular apologists and counter-cult professionals as a cult apologist.
Though Melton professes to be an Evangelical Christian, many Evangelicals do not consider his views on cults and other religions as representative. For example, Melton claims that the Jehovah's Witnesses, Unification Church, Jonestown (Jim Jones' People's Temple), Aum Shinrikyo, the Church of Scientology, etcetera, are not cults.
Rather than recognize and acknowledge the sociological and/or theological aspects that make each of these movements cults, Melton prefers the euphemistic term "New Religious Movements."
Melton has become a controversial figure for several reasons:
1) His defense of various groups widely viewed as, theologically, cults of Christianity (e.g. the Local Church, and The Family). Though he has admitted that he does not know where to draw the line between orthodoxy and heresy, Melton even aided the Local Church in its lawsuit against a Christian countercult ministry.
2) His largely uncritical treatment of groups ranging from the Church Universal and Triumphant to the Church of Scientology. Some of his work reads like made-to-order PR material. His study of the Church Universal and Triumphant, done in co-operation with fellow cult-apologist James R. Lewis, is described by one sociologist as a "a travesty of research."
3) His attacks on Christian apologetics ministries, apologists, and counter-cult professionals.
4) His assertion that apostates invariably lie.
For these reasons, while most people acknowledge Melton's expertise at gathering and organizing research data, many religion professionals and secular anti-cult activitists believe he does a poor job at interpreting that data.
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