Cult Awareness Network

This article is about the organization up to 1996. For the subsequent organization, see New Cult Awareness Network.

Cult Awareness Network
AbbreviationCAN
Formation1978
FounderTed Patrick
Dissolved1996
ServicesDeprogramming, support and referrals to deprogrammers and exit counselors
Executive director 1991–1996
Cynthia Kisser
Co-director 1995–1996, vice president 1992–1995
Rosanne Henry
Director 1988–1991
Carol Giambalvo
Director 1982–1987
Reginald Alev
Key people
Cynthia Kisser, Patricia Ryan, Louis Jolyon West, Margaret Singer, Priscilla Coates, Rick Ross, Steven Hassan, Paul Engel, Janja Lalich, Mike Farrell, Edward Lottick, Sandy Andron (former vice-president), Nancy Miquelon, John Rehling, William Rehling
SubsidiariesNARDEC, Free Minds of North Texas
Formerly called
FREECOG, Citizen's Freedom Foundation (CFF)

The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization founded by deprogrammer Ted Patrick[1] that provided information on groups it considered "cults", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers.[2][3][4] It operated (initially under the name “Citizens’ Freedom Foundation”) from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s in the United States.

The Cult Awareness Network was the most notable organization to emerge from the anti-cult movement in America. In the 1970s, a growing number of large and small New Religious Movements caused alarm in some sections of the community, based in part on the fear of "brainwashing" or "mind control" allegedly employed by these groups. The Cult Awareness Network presented itself as a source of information about "cults"; by 1991 it was monitoring over 200 groups that it referred to as "mind-control cults". It also promoted a form of coercive intervention by self-styled "deprogrammers" who would, for a significant fee, forcibly detain or even abduct the cult member and subject them to a barrage of attacks on their beliefs, supposedly in order to counter the effects of the brainwashing. The practice, which could involve criminal actions such as kidnapping and false imprisonment, generated controversy, and Ted Patrick and others faced both civil and criminal proceedings.

After CAN lost a lawsuit and filed for bankruptcy in 1996, lawyer and Scientologist Steven L. Hayes acquired the rights to CAN's name, logo, PO box, and hot-line phone number, and licensed the name to the "Foundation for Religious Freedom", who established the New Cult Awareness Network. Hayes made the purchase with funds raised from private donations, not from the Church of Scientology, although a number of scientologists had been among the most active participants in a coalition of religious freedom advocates from whom he had collected money. The Church of Scientology had previously been one of CAN's main targets.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference congresshearing was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Staff (2001). "From the Editor". New CAN: Cult Awareness Network. pp. Volume I, Issue 2. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2007.
  3. ^ Goodman, Leisa (2001). "A Letter from the Church of Scientology". Marburg Journal of Religion: Responses From Religions. pp. Volume 6, No. 2, 4 pages. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2007.
  4. ^ Lucas, P.C. and T. Robbins. 2013. New Religious Movements in the 21st Century: Taylor & Francis. [page needed][ISBN missing]
  5. ^ Goodstein, Laurie (December 1, 1996). "It's A Hostile Takeover Of A Nonprofit". The Seattle Times. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 18, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2008.
  6. ^ Lewis, James R (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Prometheus Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-1-61592-738-8. OL 360149M.
  7. ^ Knapp, Dan (December 19, 1996). "Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one". CNN. Retrieved February 8, 2023.