Cult of Death
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What makes an educated person from a good family join extremist groups and volunteer to become a suicide bomber? Al-Qa’ida expert, Abdel Bari Atwan, explains it as desperation and indoctrination into a culture of death, while cult expert Steve Hassan, describes the mind-control techniques methods used to turn vulnerable people into new recruits.
Guests
Steven Hassan
is a cult counsellor and mind control expert from the US with over 30 years of frontline activism exposing destructive cults, providing counselling and training. He is a Nationally Certified Counsellor and licensed Mental Health Counsellor who has developed the breakthrough approach to help loved ones rescue cult mind control victims. A former member of the Moon cult, ex-cult members and others seek him out for specialized counselling to help them recover from symptoms other mental health professionals are not trained to address.
Steve has been at the forefront of cult awareness activism since 1976 and is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Combatting Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults (1988) and Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves (2000).
Abdel Bari Atwan
is Editor-in-Chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi. He first interviewed Osama bin Laden in 1996.
Further Information
Steven Hassan’s Freedom of Mind Center
A comprehensive website that describes itself as “a safe and responsible place where you can turn to for resources, news and information about destructive cults, and mind control techniques”.
Publications
Title: Releasing the Bonds:Empowering People to Think for Themselves
Author: Steven Hassan
Publisher: 2000
Title: The Secret History of Al-Qa’ida
Author: Abdel Bari Atwan
Publisher: Abacus, 2006
Presenter
Rachael Kohn
Producer
Geoff Wood and Rachael Kohn
The Spirit of Things, broadcast by the ABC Radio National (Australia), “explores contemporary values and beliefs as expressed through ritual, art, music, and sacred texts.” The program is produced and presented by Rachael Kohn.