The Cult Observer is published ten times each year by the American 
Family Foundation, P.O. Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 33959. 
(212) 249-7693.
Subscriptions.
Contributors of $30 or more to AFF (Canada: $35; other: $42 
?in U.S. dollars only) will receive The Cult Observer, Young 
People and Cults, and the AFF Annual Report for one year.
	AFF is a research and educational orga-nization founded 
in 1979 to assist cult victims and their families through the 
study of cultic groups and unethically manipulative techniques 
of persuasion and control. AFF shares its findings with professionals, 
the general public, and those needing help with cultic involvements.
	AFF's staff works with more than one hundred professionals 
volunteering their time to AFF's Research Advisory Commit-tee, 
professional education and other com-mittees, and special research 
and writing projects. AFF volunteer professionals include educators, 
psychiatrists, psycholo-gists, social workers, sociologists, 
attorneys, clergy, business executives, journalists, law enforcement 
officials, college and university administrators, scientists, 
and others. AFF is supported solely by tax-deductible contributions.


Rose Paull (see Cult Observer profile in Vol. 11,
		No. 4) has been awarded the Herbert L. Rosedale
		Award for 1993 for demonstrating an exceptional dedication 
to teaching young people about cultic groups and psychological 
manipulation.?The wording of the award continues: since 
1990, Mrs. Paul has set up information booths twice a week 
at Miami Dade Community College and Florida International 
University. She talks to students, makes a reading table available 
to them, and distributes flyers and other information at her 
own expense. We will never know exact-ly how many students 
have resisted cultic seductions as a result of Mrs. Paull's 
steady dedication to the cause of psychological freedom, nor 
will we know how many she has inspired by her commitment and 
hard work. But we are sure that those she has influenced will 
be forever grateful.?The Herbert L. Rosedale Award was established 
by the American Family Foundation with a grant from the Jerry 
L. Sheaffer family, which sought to honor the AFF president 
publicly for his tireless effort during their own time of 
need and for being an example to be followed.Believing 
that so many other people also give so much of themselves 
to the cause of helping cult victims, Mr. Rosedale asked that 
the honor the Sheaffer family bestowed on him be shared with 
other individuals, such as Mrs. Paull, who are 'examples to 
be followed.' ?	A valuable publication, Virginia Child Protection Newsletter 
(VCPN), volume 41, Winter, 1993, has come to our attention. 
The entire issue is devoted to the related subjects of multiple 
personality, dissociation, ritual abuse, and child abuse in 
cults.
	AFF associate Janja Lalich gave a presentation on cults 
in July to Campus Ministers studying at the Frank J. Lewis 
Institute-West, which is a 10-day summer study session for 
Dominicans. The group was comprised of men and women with a 
range of degrees from undergraduate to doctoral, who have been 
serving as Campus Ministers for at least one year. Those attending 
were from across the country, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Arizona, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and various parts 
of California. Discussions centered around how to recognize 
cults, the types of cults active on campuses today, how to 
do preventative education on campus, how to deal with the aftermath 
of cult membership with both students and their families, and 
typical cult recruitment tactics.
	And wonderful news an Australian publisher has just purchased 
1,000 copies of Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, co-authored 
by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias, for distribution in Australia.

AFF News Continued from page 2
Donna Adams (M. Ed., Xavier University) recently
		gained her graduate counseling degree with a thesis
		using the cultism scale developed by AFF Executive 
Director Michael Langone and Professor Arthur Dole, an AFF 
director. Ms. Adams administered the scale's questionnaire 
to former members of the Cincinnati Church of Christ (part 
of the Boston Church of Christ movement), and then compared 
the results with those derived from former members of the 
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a group active on many 
college campuses. The former Church of Christ members scored 
higher on the scale indicating a significant cultic experience than 
the ex-InterVarsity students. Ms. Adams found it especially 
interesting that most of her Church of Christ respondents 
had not been deprogrammed or exit-counseled; this contradicts 
cult apologists who hold that such post-cult experiences lead 
to harsher than justified judgments of the cult. She was surprised 
that the ex-members did not score higher on answers to the 
questionnaire which indicated exploitation and dependency?
albeit they scored significantly higher here than the InterVarsity 
respondents. Rather, they scored highest on the indicators 
of mind control and compliance. The thesis, Cincinnati 
Church of Christ: How Former Members Rate the Group on the 
Cultism Scale is now being prepared for publication in a 
scholarly journal.
	Ms. Adams did not come to the study of cults casually. When 
she left the cultic University Bible Fellowship five years 
ago, she finished a nursing degree at the University of Cincinnati 
and then determined to understand better, through additional 
professional training, her own experience.  Her teachers did 
not know much about cults and unethical social influence, but 
they were interested. Indeed, they allowed her to give workshops 
on the subject to her fellow students. Now, as a practicing 
nurse in staff development and health education for a public 
health agency, and part-time counselor in the cult field, she 
frequently gives such workshops, and talks, in and around Cincinnati.
	Ms. Adams reports that the University Bible Fellowship is 
still operating in Ohio, but people are getting better educated 
about the problem, thanks to the educational work undertaken 
in recent years by her, and others like Dr. Paul Martin, AFF 
associate and head of the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, 
who first directed Ms. Adams toward AFF as a vehicle through 
which she could express her interest in cult education and 
research. She believes that campuses, and especially campus 
ministries, are more aware of the dangers of cults than they 
once were. As a soon-to-be doctoral student in counseling psychology, 
Ms. Adams hopes to help ensure that this trend continues.