by the amazing Carl Gustav Jung, vho operated unabashedlyrnon the classic model of a cult leader, complete with solar ritualsrnand the language of secret broUierhoods: Anyone wishing to understandrnthe thoroughlx’ mstieal and charismatic roots of psychoanalysisrnshould begin with two eye-opening books brnRichard Noll, The ]ung Cult (Princeton IJniversity Press, 1994)rnand ‘The Aryan Christ (Random House, 1997).rnThrough much of die 20th century, psychoanalysis was arncult wonderland of competing gurus each offering the onlyrntrue religion. Writing in the American Sociological Review inrn1936, the famous sociologist Read Bain described Hie movementrnpurely in terms of pathological religious cults. Like diernworst cults, psychoanalysis hadrna revered, almost sacred, leader-symbol; it contains mysticalrnelements yvhicli proy idc escape-mechanisms forrnmany of its folloyvers; its proponents and adherents oftenrnslioyv delusions of persecuHon and grandeur; its opponentsrnindulge in heresy-hunting and vitriolic condemnation;rnthere are numerous bitter feuds and fanatic factionsrnyvithin the fold; symbolism, ritualism and logical confusionrnabound; it flourishes upon dogmatic denial of the ordinaryrnpostidates and methods of natural science.rnEvery yvord of this analysis applies forcefullv to the therapeuticrnmovements of the present day, tiic assumptions of yvhich havernso profoundly peryaded cycry aspect of popular culture.rnTherapy, like Christianity, is deeply interested in the questionrnof lost innocence and the means bv yvhich sin came intornthe yvorld. Over the last two decades, this therapeutic obsessionrnhas been particularly apparent from the topic of sexual abuse, arnsubject yvhich has come to be seen as die origin of every- possiblernsocial ill and individual evil. Belief in the ubiquitous naturernof abuse, yvhether in the form of incest, molestation, or rape, hasrngiven rise to the recovery movement, yvhich can best be interpretedrnas a modern-day religious revival.rnThousands of therapists devote themselves to the lucrativernbusiness of inducing patients (usually female) to believe thatrndiey yyerc victims of sexual abuse, despite a lack of corroboratingrnevidence beyond some ill-defined .symptoms yvhich othersrnmight identify as accidental personalify traits. As yve are told inrndie bible of the modern rccoycry- movement. The Courage tornHeal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, “If y’ou are unable to rememberrnany specific instances . . . but still have a feeling diatrnsomething abusive happened to von, it probably did. . . . If yourndiiiik y’ou yverc abused and your life slioyvs the symptoms, thenrnyou yvere.” Evidence from dreams yvas eertainlv valid testimony.rnOnce identified as incest survivors, patients could confrontrntheir problems and begin a process of healing their “innerrnchild,” usually dirough self-help groups of comparable survivors.rnAs skepticism yas utterly discouraged in such a setting,rnit is scarcely surprising tiiat the dreams and fantasies to yvhichrnpatients confessed yvere soon elaborated into lunatic tales of ritualrnabuse yvhich implied that satanic cults yvere running rampantrnacross modern America.rnThough expressed in psychological terms of self-help, die recoven’rnmovement oyved its strength and resilience to its pervasivernreligious qualify. The treatment of incest survivors impliesrnarchaic themes like die lo,ss of primal innocence through sexualrnsin and the recovery of an untarnished childlike state. Also recallingrnreligious systems is die emphasis on faith, of belief in dierntestimony of others, even if it directly contradicts commonrnsense: The children must be believed at all costs, .’^s yvith amrnreligion, survivorship implies a total yvorkkieyv impervious torndisproof or even challenge by conventional standards of evidencernor rationalify’.rnEqually familiar to the evangelical tradition, the restorationrnof innocence occurs in a sudden emotional moment of realization,rnyvhich is essentially a conversion experience: Coidd suchrnan ideology have been formulated anyyvhere but in post-ChristianrnAmerica? “I once yvas lost, but noyv am found / yvas blind,rnbut noyv I see.” The analogy’ is not perfect, since tiic sunivor isrnrealizing not her oyvii lost and sinful state but the evil inflictedrnby a victimizer, but die underlying structure of loss, regeneration,rnand redemption is accurate. The difference is that evangelicalrnconversion is followed bv a lifelong sense of one’s oyviirnsinful state, yvhile incest recovery is founded on the poyver torneast unlimited blame on diose odicr people believed responsiblernfor the offense. Personal sin is thus replaced by die conceptrnof victimization, individual sin by’ structural injustice, contritionrnby self-assertion. The recovery movement offers a .staggeringlyrnwrongheaded version of “Amazing Grace” yvhichrnthroughout substitutes the yvord “pride” for “grace”: “it’s pridernhas brought me safe dins far / and pride yvill lead me home.”rn(Please, let nobody tell this to John Neyy ton.) Christian it certainlyrnis not, but the underlying substructure is incomprehensiblernunless seen in an evangelical context.rnIncest recovery groups are one segment of a much more substantialrnphenomenon yyjiich has become a mainstay of thernAmerican scene since mid-century, namely the small-grouprnmovement, yvhich ultimately oyves its origin to AlcoholicsrnAnonymous. No one can deny the immense good which Arnhas done for probably millions of individuals, but equally beyondrncontest is die thoroughly religious complexion of thisrnmovement. Curious as it may seem to die vast majority of JArnparticipants, the movcnicnt’s roots lie primarily in die MoralrnRearmament movement of the 1930’s and I940’s, the so-calledrnOxford C J roup, from yvhich ^AA took no less diaii ten of its celebratedrn12 steps.rnBv modem standards, the Oxford Croup yvas a bizarre cultrnyy liicli utilized high-pressure gadierings culminating in intensernoutpourings of communal confession. These intrusive tacticsrnforeshadoyved the psychological methods for yvhich cults andrntliera]3y sects yvould become notorious in later years. As most ofrnthe material confessed tended to be sexual in nature, criticsrnyy ere horrified at the image of young and yvell-to-do yvonienrnpublicly parading their most intimate secrets and fantasies. By’rnthe 193()’s, the group’s absoluti.st leader, Frank Buehman, yvasrnpublicly advocating “a God-controlled fascist dictatorship.”rnWhatever its later achievements, AA groyvs out of a cult movement.rnWith diis in mind, it is perhaps not surprising to see thernyvhole small-group ideology’ becoming an alternative religion.rnEor many of its adherents, die recovery movement supplantsrntheir original faith traditions, so that concepts like “resurrection”rnhold poyver only insofer as diey symbolize die individual’srnreayvakening from past misbehaviors.rnWith the slightest probing, yve nsualK’ find that Americansrnyvho claim not to be religious do in fact hold a yvide if contradictoryrnrange of religious beliefs, usually yvith firm roots in tliernChristian or Jeyvish traditions, ‘i’lie charismatic poyver ofrnrevered or sacred individuals became obvious a decade or sornback in the aftermath of die film The Last Temptation of Christ,rnyvhich many’ felt to be a blasphemous portrayal of Jesus’s life.rn14/CHKONICLFSrnrnrn