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{{Short description|British professor of sociology (born 1938)}}
'''Eileen Vartan Barker''' (born 21 April ]), ], ] is a ] in ], an emeritus member of the ] (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's ]. She is the chairperson and founder of the ] (INFORM) and wrote studies about ]s and ]s (NRMs).
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eileen Barker
| image = Eileen Barker.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Eileen Barker, 1990s
| birth_name = Eileen Vartan Barker
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1938|04|21}}
| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FBA|size=100%}}
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|1993|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|Month DD, YYYY|Month DD, YYYY}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| known_for = Study of ]s and ]s, religion
| occupation = Professor of sociology
| boards = ], ], ], ], '']'', ]
| party = ]
}}
'''Eileen Vartan Barker''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FBA}} (born 21 April 1938, in Edinburgh, UK) is a professor in ], an emeritus member of the ] (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the chairperson and founder of the ] and has written studies about ]s and ]s.


==Academic career== ==Academic career==
She is since 1970 involved with the LSE's sociology department whence she received her Ph.D. <ref>Bromley, David G. ''Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy''. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications, (1988) ISBN 0-8039-3188-3 page 263 </ref> Barker has been involved with the LSE's sociology department, where she received her PhD, since 1970.<ref name="Bromley, David G. 1988 page 263">{{Cite book |last= Bromley |first= David G |title= Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy |location= Newbury Park |publisher= SAGE Publications |year= 1988 |isbn= 0-8039-3188-3 |page= 263}}</ref>


In 1988, she engaged in research on the preservation of cultural identity in the ].<ref name="Bromley, David G. 1988 page 263"/> In the same year, she founded the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM) with the support of the ] and financial help from the British ].<ref>{{citation|last= Chryssides|first= George D.|title= Exploring New Religions |publisher= Continuum International Publishing Group|year= 1999|page= 351|isbn =978-0-8264-5959-6}}</ref>
She performed a longitudinal study on the ] process in the ] in the ] which was published in her ] book '']''


Barker has held numerous positions of leadership in the academic study of religion. She served as the chairperson of the ]'s Study Group for the Sociology of Religion from 1985 to 1990, as president of the ] from 1991 to 1993 (the first non-American to hold that office), and as president of the ] from 2001 to 2002.<ref>] and ], eds., ''Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker'' (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 5</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Heath|first= Anthony Francis|title= Understanding social change|publisher= Oxford University Press|year= 2005|pages= vii|isbn= 978-0-19-726314-3|display-authors= etal}}</ref>
In 1988 she was engaged in research on the preservation of cultural identity in the ]. <ref>Bromley, David G. ''Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy''. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications, (1988) ISBN 0-8039-3188-3 page 263 </ref>


In 2000, Barker became an Officer of the ] (OBE)<ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/12/99/new_years_honours/584141.stm | title = New Years Honours, Order of the British Empire | date = 31 December 1999 | work = ]}}</ref> and the ] awarded her its Martin E. Marty Award for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion.<ref>
As of ], Barker is a member of the "Editorial Review Board" of the ]'s '']''<ref>, Eileen Barker, Ph.D., ], Web site., ].</ref>. The Editorial Review Board of the ''Cultic Studies Review'' contributes to the process of ] of the ]. <ref>, ], Ph.D. (Editor), Vol. 1, No. 1, 2002, ]<br>"By taking over the functions of these three periodicals, CSR is able to offer peer-reviewed, scholarly articles, news on groups and topics (e.g., children and cultic groups), opinion columns, personal accounts of ex-members, and high quality articles for laypersons."</ref>
http://www.aarweb.org/news/pressrelease/2000----marty.asp{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Scholar Honored for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion
</ref>


Barker was a member of the editorial review board of '']'', an academic journal that offered peer-reviewed scholarship alongside news concerning cults and new religious movements.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424153547/http://icsahome.com/infoserv_icsa/icsa_brd_csr.htm |date=24 April 2008 }}, Eileen Barker, PhD, ], Web site., 2006.</ref><ref name="LanCSR02">{{cite journal |last1=Langone |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Langone|title=Announcing Cultic Studies Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512152443/http://culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_intro.htm|archive-date=12 May 2008|url-status=dead|journal=Cultic Studies Review|location=Bonita Springs|publisher=]|date=2002 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=http://culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_intro.htm|quote=By taking over the functions of these three periodicals, CSR is able to offer peer-reviewed, scholarly articles, news on groups and topics (e.g., children and cultic groups), opinion columns, personal accounts of ex-members, and high quality articles for laypersons}}</ref> Barker subsequently joined the editorial board of the ''International Journal of Cultic Studies'', which superseded ''Cultic Studies Review'' in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Editorial Board |journal=International Journal of Cultic Studies |date=2010 |volume=1 |issue=1|location=Bonita Springs|publisher=]|page=ii}}</ref>
==Barker's opinions==
Barker wrote in the book ] that she rejects the ']' theory (in the strict sense of the word as used e.g. by ]) as an explanation for conversion to the Unification Church, because she writes that it does not explain the many people who attended a Unification Church (recruitment) meeting and did not become members and the voluntary disaffiliation of members. In addition, she did not observe ] during the conversion process.


==''The Making of a Moonie''==
==Criticism==
{{main|The Making of a Moonie}}
Psychologist and brainwashing proponent ], and sociologist ], have criticized Barker's rejection of the brainwashing hypothesis in Barker's study of the conversion process for members of the ]. Singer and Lalich wrote in 1995, in their book ], called her a "procult apologist", for adopting an "apologist stance" towards the Unification Church, and noted that Barker had received payment from the Church for expenses for a book and 18 conferences from the ]. Barker defended this by stating that it had been approved by her university and a government grants council, and saved taxpayer money. Singer and Lalich likened the behavior of Barker and other researchers who received such funding as being "not unlike the Nazi doctors whom...have sold their very souls."<ref>], ], ], pp. 217-218, notes on p. 352</ref>


Her 1984 book '']'' is based on close to seven years of study of ] members (informally called "]") in the United Kingdom and the United States. ] of ], a specialist in the ], wrote that ''The Making of a Moonie'' was "one of the most comprehensive and influential studies" of the process of conversion to new religious movements.<ref>, ], George Mason University, 2006, "One of the most comprehensive and influential studies was The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? by Eileen Barker (1984).</ref>
Barker responded to the financial issues in a 1995 paper<blockquote> What is less well known is that vast amounts of money are at stake in the fostering of brainwashing and mind control thesis in the anti-cult movement secondary constructions,” and noted that “deprogrammers” and “exit counselors” charge tens of thousands of dollars for their services and that “expert witnesses” such as Singer “have charged enormous fees for giving testimony about brainwashing in court cases.<ref> Barker, Eileen. The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking! ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', Vol. 34, No. 3, 287-310. Sep., 1995”</ref></blockquote>


==Opinions of others==
Prof. Alexander Dvorkin, Ph.D., of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church mentions her appearance as an expert witness for an unsuccessful trial filed by an array of cults in Moscow against him and the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997, where she and her collegue ] stated that one could be a member of all of these groups at the same time, and called this "an unusual response from persons claiming to be experts in the field of NRMs". <ref name="Dvorkin">, Spirituality in East and West, Nr 11/1998, by Professor Alexander Dvorkin</ref>
] proponents ] and ] have criticised Barker's rejection of the brainwashing hypothesis in her study of the conversion process for members of the ]. Singer and Lalich, in their 1995 book '']'', called Barker a "procult apologist" for adopting an "apologist stance" towards the Unification Church, and noted that she had received payment from the Church for expenses for a book and eighteen conferences from the ]. Barker defended this by stating that it had been approved by her university and a government grants council, and saved taxpayer money.<ref>'']'', ], ], pp. 217–218, notes on p. 352</ref>


Barker responded to the financial issues in a 1995 paper, writing that "hat is less well known is that vast amounts of money are at stake in the fostering of brainwashing and mind control thesis in the anti-cult movement secondary constructions", and noting that "]" and "exit counselors" charge tens of thousands of dollars for their services and that "expert witnesses" such as Singer "have charged enormous fees for giving testimony about brainwashing in court cases".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barker |first=Eileen |title=The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking! |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=34 |number=3 |pages=287–310 |date=September 1995 |doi=10.2307/1386880|jstor=1386880 }}</ref>
Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor ], who have written rather critically about cults, ]s, new religious movements, and their leaders have praised Barker's work on the Unification Church's conversion process.<ref>Oakes, Len "By far the best study of the conversion process is Eileen Barker’s The Making of a Moonie " from ''Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities'', 1997, ISBN 0-8156-0398-3 </ref> <ref>Storr, Anthony Dr. ''Feet of clay: a study of gurus'' 1996 ISBN 0-684-83495-2</ref>


Barker's INFORM organisation has been criticised by the ] chaired by former ] Home Office minister and anti-cult campaigner ], who cut INFORM's Home Office funding in 1997.<ref name=Telegraph>{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4253550/Cult-advisers-in-clash-over-clampdown.html|title=Cult advisers in clash over clampdown|last=Telegraph staff|date=31 July 2000|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=19 December 2009}}</ref> In 1999, it was reported that INFORM was facing closure, due to lack of funds.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=144989&sectioncode=26|last=Thomson|first=Alan|title=Cult-watch centre faces closure|date=12 February 1999|work=Times Higher Education|access-date=19 December 2009}}</ref> By 2000, Home Office funding was restored, prompting Sackville to warn that INFORM might provide government with bad advice, adding, "I cancelled INFORM's grant and I think it's absurd that it's been brought back".<ref name=Telegraph /> Criticism of INFORM has focused on Barker's reluctance to condemn all new religions as "cults".<ref name=Telegraph /> Barker responded to the criticism by saying, "We are not cult apologists. People make a lot of noise without doing serious research – so much so that they can end up sounding as closed to reason as the cults they're attacking. Besides, I imagine FAIR was disappointed not to get our funding".<ref name=Telegraph />
==See also==
*]
*]
*]


In a 2003 collection of essays in honour of Barker, the influential ]-based religious scholar ] commented that INFORM was "often in a position from which it can reassure relatives about the character, disposition, policy, provenance and prospects of a given movement. It may be able to deflate some widely circulated rumours and false impressions derived from media comment".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1076505.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311051648/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1076505.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 March 2007|title=Bryan Wilson: Influential sociologist who offered new and enduring insights into sects and religions|last=Staff|date=29 October 2004|work=The Times|access-date=19 December 2009}}</ref><ref name=Wilson>{{citation|last=Wilson|first=Bryan R.|title=Challenging religion: essays in honour of Eileen Barker|editor=Beckford, James A. |editor2=Richardson, James T.|publisher=Routledge Taylor & Francis Group|year=2003|chapter=Absolutes and relatives: problems for NRMs|isbn=978-0-415-30948-6}}</ref> Wilson added that Barker's social science research, in particular her work on the ], had been instrumental in demonstrating that the brainwashing concept, which for some years had enjoyed popularity in the media, was unable to explain what actually happened in the process of ], or to explain why so many members of new religious movements actually leave these movements again after a short period.<ref name=Wilson />
==About Barker==
* James A. Beckford and James T. Richardson, eds., ''Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker'' (London: Routledge, 2003).
* Prof. ], "Are There Objective and Scientific Studies of NRM?", ], Center of Religious Studies, ], ], ].


Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor ], who have written critically about cults, ]s, new religious movements, and their leaders, have praised Barker's work on the Unification Church's conversion process.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oakes |first=Len |quote=By far the best study of the conversion process is Eileen Barker's The Making of a Moonie |title=Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities |year=1997 |isbn=0-8156-0398-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Storr |first=Anthony |title=Feet of clay: a study of gurus |year=1996 |isbn=0-684-83495-2}}</ref>
==Selected bibliography by Barker==

*Barker, Eileen '']'', Blackwell Publishers, November 1984, ISBN 0-631-13246-5
==Political career==
*Barker, Eileen (editor) ''Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West'' Mercer University Press Macon, Georgia, U.S.A. 1984
Barker, a member of the ], was an unsuccessful Queen's Park ward candidate in ]<ref>https://www.brent.gov.uk/elections.nsf/2d43be7a2cad472f80256a940044408f/d76710876d25e9af80256ad20035ac80!OpenDocument 2002 Candidate Details, retrieved 21 July 2007</ref> and an unsuccessful Kenton ward candidate in ].<ref>http://www.brent.gov.uk/elections.nsf/249521561f6cd81b80257145005078d8/ad14c25aedacbccb802571420053d02d!OpenDocument 2006 Candidate Details, retrieved 21 July 2007</ref>
*Barker, Eileen ''Defection from the Unification Church: Some Statistics and Distinctions'', article in the book edited by ] ''Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy''. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications, (1988) ISBN 0-8039-3188-3

*Barker, Eileen ''New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction'' (Paperback) Bernan Press (October, 1990) ISBN 0-11-340927-3
==Selected bibliography==
*Barker, Eileen "The ]? You Must Be Joking!" ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', 34 (1995), pp. 287-310.
*Barker, Eileen ''In the Beginning: The Battle of Creationists Science against Evolutionism'', article in the book edited by ] ''On the Margin of Science: The Social Construction of Rejected Knowledge''. Sociological Review Monograph 27, Keele, 1979, pp.&nbsp;179–200
* Barker, Eileen "New Religious Movements in Britain," in ''New Religious Movements in Europe'', Helle Meldgaard and Johannes Aagaard, eds., (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1997), pp. 99-123.
*Barker, Eileen '']'', ], November 1984, {{ISBN|0-631-13246-5}}
*Barker, Eileen, "New Religions and New Religiosity," in ''New Religions and New Religiosity'', Eileen Barker and Margit Warburg, eds., (Aarhus:Aarhus University Press, 1998), pp. 10-27.
*Barker, Eileen (editor) ''Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West'' ] Macon, Georgia, USA 1984 {{ISBN|0-86554-095-0}}
*Barker, Eileen ''Standing at the Cross-Roads: Politics of Marginality in "Subversive Organizations"'' article in ''The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements'' edited by ] Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
*Barker, Eileen ''New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction'' (Paperback) Bernan Press (October 1990) {{ISBN|0-11-340927-3}}
*Barker, Eileen, ''On freedom: a centenary anthology'', Transaction Publishers, 1997, {{ISBN|1-56000-976-4}} {{ISBN|9781560009764}}
*Barker, Eileen. ''New Religions'', Haft Asman (Seven Heavens), A Journal for the Center for Religious Studies, Vol. 4, no. 19, translated into Persian by Baqer Talebi Darabi, Autumn 2002. *Barker, Eileen. ''New Religions'', Haft Asman (Seven Heavens), A Journal for the Center for Religious Studies, Vol. 4, no. 19, translated into Persian by Baqer Talebi Darabi, Autumn 2002.
*Barker, Eileen ''"New Religious Movements" Religions and Beliefs in Britain'' (GCSE/A'level resource book), Craig Donnellan (ed.), Cambridge: Independence, 2005: 19–22.
* Barker, Eileen "Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-atching Groups," in ''Cults, Religion and Violence'', David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 123-148.
* Barker, Eileen. (Editor) ''Freedom and Religion in Eastern Europe.'' Special Edition of The Sociology of Religion 64 no. 3 2003.
*Barker, Eileen. ''And the Wisdom to Know the Difference? Freedom, Control and the Sociology of Religion'' (Association for the Sociology of Religion 2002 Presidential Address). Sociology of Religion 64, no. 3, 2003, pp. 285-307. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0SOR/3_64/109568880/p1/article.jhtml
*Barker, Eileen. (Slovak language) ''Zákonné opatrenie nových náboženských knutí Vel'kej Británii'', in ''Erópa a nové náboženskýhnutia'', Zostavil Miroslv Lojda (ed.), Bratislava: Ministerstva kultúry Slovenskej republiky, translated into Slovakian by M. Lodja. 2003, pp. 87-92.
*Barker, Eileen. ''Democracy and Religious Pluralism in Post-Soviet Society.'' In ''The Rebirth of Religion and the Birth of Democracy in Russia''. Edited by Hoekema, D.; Bodrov, A. Calvin College, 2003.
*Barker, Eileen (German language) ''"Vereinigungskirche"'' in ''Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart: vierte Auflage'', edited by Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski, Eberhard Jüngel. Tübingen: RGG, 2004: 21068.
*Barker, Eileen. ''Why the Cults? New Religions and Freedom of Religion and Beliefs.'' In ''Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook''. Edited by Lindholm, T.; Durham, W.C.; Tahzib-Lie, B. Koninklijke Brill, 2004, pp. 571-593.
*Barker, Eileen. ''General Overview of the 'Cult Scene' in Great Britain.'' In ''New Religious Movements in the 21st Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective''. edited by Lucas, C.P.; Robbins, T. Routledge, 2004, pp. 27-34.
*Barker, Eileen. (German language) ''Neue Religiöse Bewegungen: Religiöser Pluralismus in der westlichen Welt.'' In ''Religion und Gessellschaft''. Edited by Reuter, K. G. H.-R.. Ferdinand Schöningh, 2004, pp. 333-352.
*Barker, Eileen. ''The Church Without and the God Within: Religiosity and/or Spirituality?'' In ''Religion and Patterns of Social Transformation''. Edited by Borowik, I.; Jerolimov, D.; Zrinšcak, D. IDIZ (Institute for Social Research in Zagreb), 2004, pp. 23-47.
*Barker, Eileen. ''What Are We Studying? A Sociological Case for Keeping the 'Nova' '', Nova Religio 8 no. 3 (2004) pp. 88-102.
*Barker, Eileen ''"Crossing the Boundary: New Challenges to Authority and Control as a Consequence of Access to the Internet."'' in Religion and Cyberspace, edited by M. T. Højsgaard and M. Warburg, London: Routledge, 2005.
*Barker, Eileen ''"Yet More Varieties of Religious Experiences: Diversity and Pluralism in Contemporary Europe"'' in Hartmut Lehman (ed.) ''Religiöser Pluralismus im vereinten Europa: Freikirchen und Sekten'', Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2005: 156-172
*Barker, Eileen (with ]) ''What are the New Religions Doing in a Secular Society?'' in Anthony F. Heath, John Ermisch & Duncan Gallie (eds) ''Understanding Social Change''. British Academy Centenary Monograph, Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2005: 291-317.
*Barker, Eileen ''"New Religious Movements" Religions and Beliefs in Britain'' (GCSE/A'level resource book), Craig Donnellan (ed.), Cambridge: Independence, 2005: 19-22.
*Barker, Eileen ''"Unification Church"'' in ''The Encyclopedia of New York State'' Peter Eisenstadt, Editor in Chief, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
<div class="references-small">
<references />
</div>


==External links== ==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |editor=James A. Beckford |editor-link=James A. Beckford |editor2=James T. (Jim) Richardson |editor2-link=James Richardson (sociologist) |title=Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2003}}
* at the London School of Economics
* by Eileen Barker
* From: London School of Economics and Political Science interview (video + text)
* critical entry by the countercult activist ]
* critical entry by anti-cult activist ]
* by Professor ], Greek Orthodox Publications, Video-tape "Synaxis or gathering of the Heads of all Orthodox Churches at Fanar, Constantinople, ]


==External links==
]
{{Wikiquote}}
]
] * at the London School of Economics
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219080908/http://www.chaplaincy.ic.ac.uk/images/nrm_by_eb.pdf |date=19 February 2006 |title=An Introduction to New Religious Movements }} by Eileen Barker
]
* From: London School of Economics and Political Science interview (video + text)
*


{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Eileen}}
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Latest revision as of 22:11, 26 September 2024

British professor of sociology (born 1938)

Eileen BarkerOBE FBA
Eileen Barker, 1990s
BornEileen Vartan Barker
(1938-04-21) 21 April 1938 (age 86)
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityBritish
OccupationProfessor of sociology
Known forStudy of cults and new religious movements, religion
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Board member ofINFORM, Study Group for the Sociology of Religion, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Association for the Sociology of Religion, International Journal of Cultic Studies, Centre for the Study of Human Rights

Eileen Vartan Barker OBE FBA (born 21 April 1938, in Edinburgh, UK) is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the chairperson and founder of the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM) and has written studies about cults and new religious movements.

Academic career

Barker has been involved with the LSE's sociology department, where she received her PhD, since 1970.

In 1988, she engaged in research on the preservation of cultural identity in the Armenian diaspora. In the same year, she founded the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM) with the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury and financial help from the British Home Office.

Barker has held numerous positions of leadership in the academic study of religion. She served as the chairperson of the British Sociological Association's Study Group for the Sociology of Religion from 1985 to 1990, as president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion from 1991 to 1993 (the first non-American to hold that office), and as president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion from 2001 to 2002.

In 2000, Barker became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and the American Academy of Religion awarded her its Martin E. Marty Award for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion.

Barker was a member of the editorial review board of Cultic Studies Review, an academic journal that offered peer-reviewed scholarship alongside news concerning cults and new religious movements. Barker subsequently joined the editorial board of the International Journal of Cultic Studies, which superseded Cultic Studies Review in 2010.

The Making of a Moonie

Main article: The Making of a Moonie

Her 1984 book The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? is based on close to seven years of study of Unification Church members (informally called "Moonies") in the United Kingdom and the United States. Laurence Iannaccone of George Mason University, a specialist in the economics of religion, wrote that The Making of a Moonie was "one of the most comprehensive and influential studies" of the process of conversion to new religious movements.

Opinions of others

Brainwashing proponents Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich have criticised Barker's rejection of the brainwashing hypothesis in her study of the conversion process for members of the Unification Church. Singer and Lalich, in their 1995 book Cults in Our Midst, called Barker a "procult apologist" for adopting an "apologist stance" towards the Unification Church, and noted that she had received payment from the Church for expenses for a book and eighteen conferences from the Unification Church. Barker defended this by stating that it had been approved by her university and a government grants council, and saved taxpayer money.

Barker responded to the financial issues in a 1995 paper, writing that "hat is less well known is that vast amounts of money are at stake in the fostering of brainwashing and mind control thesis in the anti-cult movement secondary constructions", and noting that "deprogrammers" and "exit counselors" charge tens of thousands of dollars for their services and that "expert witnesses" such as Singer "have charged enormous fees for giving testimony about brainwashing in court cases".

Barker's INFORM organisation has been criticised by the Family Action Information Resource chaired by former Conservative Home Office minister and anti-cult campaigner Tom Sackville, who cut INFORM's Home Office funding in 1997. In 1999, it was reported that INFORM was facing closure, due to lack of funds. By 2000, Home Office funding was restored, prompting Sackville to warn that INFORM might provide government with bad advice, adding, "I cancelled INFORM's grant and I think it's absurd that it's been brought back". Criticism of INFORM has focused on Barker's reluctance to condemn all new religions as "cults". Barker responded to the criticism by saying, "We are not cult apologists. People make a lot of noise without doing serious research – so much so that they can end up sounding as closed to reason as the cults they're attacking. Besides, I imagine FAIR was disappointed not to get our funding".

In a 2003 collection of essays in honour of Barker, the influential Oxford University-based religious scholar Bryan R. Wilson commented that INFORM was "often in a position from which it can reassure relatives about the character, disposition, policy, provenance and prospects of a given movement. It may be able to deflate some widely circulated rumours and false impressions derived from media comment". Wilson added that Barker's social science research, in particular her work on the Unification Church, had been instrumental in demonstrating that the brainwashing concept, which for some years had enjoyed popularity in the media, was unable to explain what actually happened in the process of religious conversion, or to explain why so many members of new religious movements actually leave these movements again after a short period.

Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr, who have written critically about cults, gurus, new religious movements, and their leaders, have praised Barker's work on the Unification Church's conversion process.

Political career

Barker, a member of the Liberal Democrats, was an unsuccessful Queen's Park ward candidate in May 2002 and an unsuccessful Kenton ward candidate in May 2006.

Selected bibliography

  • Barker, Eileen In the Beginning: The Battle of Creationists Science against Evolutionism, article in the book edited by Roy Wallis On the Margin of Science: The Social Construction of Rejected Knowledge. Sociological Review Monograph 27, Keele, 1979, pp. 179–200
  • Barker, Eileen The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing?, Blackwell Publishers, November 1984, ISBN 0-631-13246-5
  • Barker, Eileen (editor) Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West Mercer University Press Macon, Georgia, USA 1984 ISBN 0-86554-095-0
  • Barker, Eileen New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction (Paperback) Bernan Press (October 1990) ISBN 0-11-340927-3
  • Barker, Eileen, On freedom: a centenary anthology, Transaction Publishers, 1997, ISBN 1-56000-976-4 ISBN 9781560009764
  • Barker, Eileen. New Religions, Haft Asman (Seven Heavens), A Journal for the Center for Religious Studies, Vol. 4, no. 19, translated into Persian by Baqer Talebi Darabi, Autumn 2002.
  • Barker, Eileen "New Religious Movements" Religions and Beliefs in Britain (GCSE/A'level resource book), Craig Donnellan (ed.), Cambridge: Independence, 2005: 19–22.

References

  1. ^ Bromley, David G (1988). Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications. p. 263. ISBN 0-8039-3188-3.
  2. Chryssides, George D. (1999), Exploring New Religions, Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 351, ISBN 978-0-8264-5959-6
  3. James A. Beckford and James T. (Jim) Richardson, eds., Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 5
  4. Heath, Anthony Francis; et al. (2005). Understanding social change. Oxford University Press. pp. vii. ISBN 978-0-19-726314-3.
  5. "New Years Honours, Order of the British Empire". BBC News. 31 December 1999.
  6. http://www.aarweb.org/news/pressrelease/2000----marty.asp Scholar Honored for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion
  7. Cultic Studies Review Editorial Board Archived 24 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Eileen Barker, PhD, International Cultic Studies Association, Web site., 2006.
  8. Langone, Michael (2002). "Announcing Cultic Studies Review". Cultic Studies Review. 1 (1). Bonita Springs: International Cultic Studies Association. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. By taking over the functions of these three periodicals, CSR is able to offer peer-reviewed, scholarly articles, news on groups and topics (e.g., children and cultic groups), opinion columns, personal accounts of ex-members, and high quality articles for laypersons
  9. "Editorial Board". International Journal of Cultic Studies. 1 (1). Bonita Springs: International Cultic Studies Association: ii. 2010.
  10. The Market for Martyrs, Laurence Iannaccone, George Mason University, 2006, "One of the most comprehensive and influential studies was The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? by Eileen Barker (1984).
  11. Cults in our Midst, Margaret Thaler Singer, Janja Lalich, pp. 217–218, notes on p. 352
  12. Barker, Eileen (September 1995). "The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 34 (3): 287–310. doi:10.2307/1386880. JSTOR 1386880.
  13. ^ Telegraph staff (31 July 2000), "Cult advisers in clash over clampdown", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 19 December 2009
  14. Thomson, Alan (12 February 1999), "Cult-watch centre faces closure", Times Higher Education, retrieved 19 December 2009
  15. Staff (29 October 2004). "Bryan Wilson: Influential sociologist who offered new and enduring insights into sects and religions". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  16. ^ Wilson, Bryan R. (2003), "Absolutes and relatives: problems for NRMs", in Beckford, James A.; Richardson, James T. (eds.), Challenging religion: essays in honour of Eileen Barker, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN 978-0-415-30948-6
  17. Oakes, Len (1997). Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities. ISBN 0-8156-0398-3. By far the best study of the conversion process is Eileen Barker's The Making of a Moonie
  18. Storr, Anthony (1996). Feet of clay: a study of gurus. ISBN 0-684-83495-2.
  19. https://www.brent.gov.uk/elections.nsf/2d43be7a2cad472f80256a940044408f/d76710876d25e9af80256ad20035ac80!OpenDocument 2002 Candidate Details, retrieved 21 July 2007
  20. http://www.brent.gov.uk/elections.nsf/249521561f6cd81b80257145005078d8/ad14c25aedacbccb802571420053d02d!OpenDocument 2006 Candidate Details, retrieved 21 July 2007

Further reading

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