Mind Control and the Mormon Church
The LDS Organization is Frequently Accused of Using These Techniques
The charge of using mind control to manipulate members is commonly levied against the church, but does it hold up?
Brainwashing and mind control are linked in the minds of many, but while brainwashing exists beyond a shadow of a doubt, mind control is a more controversial subject and if the methods are proved to be successful is more insidious. Cults and mainstream religions, such as the Mormons, have been accused of using the practice of mind control.
When mind control techniques are compared to the techniques used by the Mormon church, the charge of mind control against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not groundless, but mind control also implies a conscious effort to keep people from discovering the truth.
In the case of the practice of the Mormon faith, many of these techniques developed before books on mind control came out and were not part of an effort.
What Is Mind Control?
Mind control is the effort to control the thoughts of another through coercion, control of information, and controlling with whom someone associates. Mind control, unlike a related discipline called brainwashing, is subtle and victims are not often aware of it, but the Skeptic's Dictionary suggests that most mind control efforts are better grouped under some other category. A person merely joining a religion outside of a mainstream belief system does not necessarily mean they have been brainwashed or mind controlled.
Mind Control as it Applies to the Mormons
Given that mind control is controversial and not universally accepted as a legitimate phenomenon, it is surprising that the accusation can be found on mainstream sites that are neutral to the Mormon church and its practices instead of being delegated to the realm of late night talk radio and anti-Mormon groups such as Saints Alive.
The major techniques used are making the person feel loved, making the person feel worthless if they are not a member of the group or a user of the technique, and using guilt to control the actions of its members. While these can and often are carried out to extremes in common Mormon practice, it does not make the group guilty of mind control. In fact, therapists and religions often use these methods to evoke positive changes in an individual.
Do the Mormons Use Mind Control?
Religious tolerance suggests that brainwashing might have been used in the Elizabeth Smart case, but Smart's abductor was not a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was instead trying to form his own fundamentalist group that practiced the polygamy espoused by early Mormon leaders. If the main church does do it, it is merely overzealousness on the part of administrators.
The Mormon church could change its practices to avoid the charge, but as the intent is not to control the thoughts or actions of its members, merely to try to improve them, the charge of mind control cannot be properly implied.
Critics must be careful and point to things that the church does and has done in the past such as BYU Aversion Therapy to point out areas of fault, as anything that may be valid will quickly be dismissed as anti-Mormon on the basis of a few wrong facts or facts that are perceived to be incorrect but are not widely known among the members, such as Joseph Smith's gold digging activities.
Resources:
Skeptic's Dictionary Mind Control
Was Elizabeth Smart Brainwashed?
Mormons Claim They are not a Cult
