In December 2004 AFF (American Family Foundation) officially changed its name to International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). The change of name had been discussed for many years. Until a few years ago, those who felt that "AFF" had established an identity and was "known" had prevailed. However, several factors tilted the name-change decision in favor of those wanting a change.
First of all, the constituency of the organization has changed over the past 25 years. Initially, nearly everybody who contacted AFF for help did so because he/she had a child involved in a cultic group. AFF's unique role was to bring these parents into contact with helping professionals, increasing numbers of whom became interested in and/or involved with AFF as time passed. By the early 1990s, however, the majority of people contacting the organization were former group members who had left their groups without an intervention ("walk-aways"). By the late 1990s, AFF and people associated with the organization had completed a sizeable body of research and an increasing number of people, particularly researchers, from outside the United States began to get involved with the organization. At some recent conferences 25% of the attendees were from outside the U.S. Today, we speak of our four international "constituencies" of family members, former members, researchers, and helping professionals (including mental health, law, clergy, educators – some of whom are also former members of groups or family members of involved persons). Consequently, although "family" may have reflected the organization's focus in its early years, it no longer is THE focus, though it still remains a vital concern.
Most people favored "cultic studies" because it expressed the organization's interest areas without being so narrow and precise as to exclude phenomena that might be similar but not equivalent to those associated with the admittedly vague concept "cult." Many high-control or abusive groups from which people leave are not necessarily "cults" in a strict sense, but they may nonetheless resemble "cults" in some ways. "Cultic studies" also gives us a link to the past, for our journal has used that term since 1984 and our main Web site has used the term for the past several years.
After doing some research, I just found out that the group you're referring to, Thomas, was Cult Awareness Network (CAN). That's was a different group.
ICSA was never bought by Scientology or any other organization. ICSA has always been independent. In the 1990s the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was driven into bankruptcy as a result of law suits. Scientology or individuals associated with the organization obtained certain assets of CAN in the 1990s. See this article for a detailed history of the cult awareness movements in North America: http://www.icsahome.com/articles/changes-in-the-north-american-cult-awareness-movement”
thx for posting the conference info - it actually looks really good - all of the sessions. i have a schedule conflict for this one but would consider a future conference.
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Thomas Loy Bumgarner
Pen, isn't this the group that was purchased by Scientology? or is that a different group?
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penworks
No.
I have no idea what group you might be referring to.
You can check the history of ICSA at http://www.icsahome.com
Here's a snippet:
In December 2004 AFF (American Family Foundation) officially changed its name to International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). The change of name had been discussed for many years. Until a few years ago, those who felt that "AFF" had established an identity and was "known" had prevailed. However, several factors tilted the name-change decision in favor of those wanting a change.
First of all, the constituency of the organization has changed over the past 25 years. Initially, nearly everybody who contacted AFF for help did so because he/she had a child involved in a cultic group. AFF's unique role was to bring these parents into contact with helping professionals, increasing numbers of whom became interested in and/or involved with AFF as time passed. By the early 1990s, however, the majority of people contacting the organization were former group members who had left their groups without an intervention ("walk-aways"). By the late 1990s, AFF and people associated with the organization had completed a sizeable body of research and an increasing number of people, particularly researchers, from outside the United States began to get involved with the organization. At some recent conferences 25% of the attendees were from outside the U.S. Today, we speak of our four international "constituencies" of family members, former members, researchers, and helping professionals (including mental health, law, clergy, educators – some of whom are also former members of groups or family members of involved persons). Consequently, although "family" may have reflected the organization's focus in its early years, it no longer is THE focus, though it still remains a vital concern.
Most people favored "cultic studies" because it expressed the organization's interest areas without being so narrow and precise as to exclude phenomena that might be similar but not equivalent to those associated with the admittedly vague concept "cult." Many high-control or abusive groups from which people leave are not necessarily "cults" in a strict sense, but they may nonetheless resemble "cults" in some ways. "Cultic studies" also gives us a link to the past, for our journal has used that term since 1984 and our main Web site has used the term for the past several years.
For more visit, http://www.icsahome.com/aboutus/name-change
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penworks
After doing some research, I just found out that the group you're referring to, Thomas, was Cult Awareness Network (CAN). That's was a different group.
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Thomas Loy Bumgarner
Thanks
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penworks
Here's a bit more detail:
ICSA was never bought by Scientology or any other organization. ICSA has always been independent. In the 1990s the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was driven into bankruptcy as a result of law suits. Scientology or individuals associated with the organization obtained certain assets of CAN in the 1990s. See this article for a detailed history of the cult awareness movements in North America: http://www.icsahome.com/articles/changes-in-the-north-american-cult-awareness-movement”
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chockfull
thx for posting the conference info - it actually looks really good - all of the sessions. i have a schedule conflict for this one but would consider a future conference.
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